2017 Annual General Meeting – CEO’s Address

ANZ 2017 AGM CEO Address
19 December 2017
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ANZ 2017 Annual General Meeting

Chief Executive Officer’s Address

Thank you David. And good morning everyone.

I would also like to pay my respects to the Traditional Owners of the land on which we’re
meeting - the Gadigal people of the Eora nation - and pay my respects to Elders past
and present, and to any other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who have joined us
here today.

Some of you probably know that I joined Citibank in Auckland as a young trainee in the
mid-1980s just as Australia and New Zealand’s financial markets were opened up to
foreign competition.

I relished the opportunity to learn, to try new things and to adapt to change. And it was
exciting to be part of a truly global organisation.

Reflecting on all that’s changed since then, I’m reminded of GE’s chief executive Jack
Welch, who said of business: “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of
change on the inside, then the end is near.”

As David said, the scale and pace of change on the outside is now greater than perhaps
any time in ANZ’s history.

We all know that the rise of Asia is the single biggest economic, social and geopolitical
event of the last 50-plus years. It’s literally changing the world that we live in,
particularly here in Australia.

Then there are the huge changes driven by technology.

For example, our customers with smart phones now carry their bank in their pocket and
access our services 24 by 7.

Digitisation, mobility, cloud computing and increasingly artificial intelligence, machine
learning and robotics are transforming industry after industry - breaking down barriers,
creating new forms of competition, providing nimble players with new opportunities
while imposing fundamental challenges to the incumbents.

And banking is no exception.

And our customers’ lives are changing fast too. People work differently, buy differently,
pay differently and expect more from their bank.

Population growth, rapid urbanisation and rising living standards around the world are
placing an increasing strain on resources and the environment, and this is happening at
an unprecedented pace.

Customer and community expectations are changing just as fast. So business needs to
radically re-think its relationship with customers, communities and governments.

But this isn’t just about better relationships.

The break-down in these relationships has driven higher capital, tighter liquidity
requirements, and now, a new bank tax.

ANZ 2017 AGM CEO Address
19 December 2017
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Left unmanaged these changes would see the industry’s return on equity fall by around
300 basis points all else being equal, and means that your dividends will be lower in the
future than they might otherwise have been.

None of this is news to you I’m sure.

In media articles and at AGM, after AGM around the country, Chairs and CEOs have been
highlighting the incredible changes that we are all wrestling with.

But change brings opportunity for the bold. What matters is how your bank responds.

And these changes are just as important for the country. Governments – both state and
federal – need to respond and consider new areas of economic opportunity for Australia
in an increasingly global and dynamic world.

For example, how does Australia develop the work skills our children will need to be
successful? How will changing demographics impact the demand for government
services? And how can technology improve the way these services are delivered, and
what will successful infrastructure look like in the future?

Rapid change affects us all. We need a strong and inclusive conversation about how we
adapt, embrace opportunity and continue to prosper for the benefit of all members of
our society.

That conversation needs to focus on economic growth that reduces community divisions,
enables just transitions, meets the tests of equity and fairness, while also forming the
basis for future prosperity.

At ANZ we accept that rapid change is the new normal.

In fact we embrace it and we’re are excited by it. Our financial, digital and cultural
transformation is creating an organisation with the capability and the attitude to identify,
and to embrace change, and to win.

I won’t pretend this is easy but let me explain briefly how we are changing.

It begins with our purpose. Knowing why you are doing something makes it a lot easier
to stay the course, particularly in a fast changing world.

Our purpose is to shape a world where people and communities thrive.

Change is also easier if you are doing fewer things, and so we have radically simplified
our strategy.

This means focusing on those areas where we can deliver exceptional customer
outcomes, solve real customer problems and make a good return for our shareholders.

In Australia and New Zealand, our aim is to be the best bank for people who want to buy
and own a home, and for people who want to start, run and grow a business.

In Institutional Banking, we want to be the best bank in the world for customers who
move goods and money around the Asia-Pacific region.

These are areas where we do well, that offer good returns and where there is the
opportunity to grow profitably.

ANZ 2017 AGM CEO Address
19 December 2017
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This is a simpler, more focussed strategy which, in the short term, will see ANZ become
a smaller bank, but with higher returns.

But we are not shrinking for the sake of it. Greater focus will drive long term growth,
but in areas with better shareholder returns.

Let me explain.

In saying our aim is to be the best bank for people who want to buy and own a home, I
don’t just mean the best bank for mortgages. That limits our opportunity.

And when I say the best bank for people who want to start, run and grow a business, I
don’t just mean taking deposits and making business loans.

These traditional banking activities are attractive markets, we have strong credentials
and capability in each, and we have been selectively growing our market share, for
example in owner occupied home lending where we have grown market share
consistently for six years.

But many of these traditional activities are also highly competitive, increasingly
commoditised and are experiencing low market growth.

ANZ’s strategy explicitly addresses this, and we are embracing the digital age not only to
compete but to redefine our target markets and create a new ANZ with new growth
options for the future.

The key to sustainable, profitable growth is to recognise and embrace the changes that
are disrupting our business and to invest in the technology, people and relationships that
are needed to provide customers with the solutions they want in this new world.

Let me give you some examples of this new way of thinking.

Last year I spoke to you about ApplePay and how thinking differently to our peer banks,
embracing change, and partnering with one of the world’s most loved brands, helped to
deepen our relationship with existing customers and attracted thousands of new
customers to ANZ – in fact, it’s now helped attract more than 250,000 new customers to
our bank.

But that was not enough. We now offer new mobile payment solutions to Android phone
users, Samsung users, and even those with wearable devices like the FitBit or a Garmin
watch.

We are the only major bank to offer our customers a full range of mobile wallet
solutions.

These are still early days but the approach of listening to our customers, thinking more
broadly about their needs, of working with partners and bringing innovation to market at
pace is now being embedded throughout our business.

For example, because our strategy is to be the best bank for people who want to start,
run and grow a business, we have introduced ANZ Business Ready in partnership with
Honcho, a new start-up company based here in Sydney.

We learned that one of the biggest frustrations our small business customers face is that
it takes weeks to get their business started and often they don’t know what steps to take
next.

ANZ 2017 AGM CEO Address
19 December 2017
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ANZ Business Ready is a simple, efficient and cost effective solution that allows them, in
just a few steps on-line, to receive their ABN, get a logo, register their business name,
set up a website and a business email address, and open a business bank account.

It means they can be up and running from idea to business in 24 hours. Just imagine
what that means.

ANZ Business Ready allows us get in at the ground floor with small businesses as they
start up and to really establish ourselves as their partner.

This is a large opportunity with about 300,000 new businesses established each year in
Australia and, through initiatives such as ANZ Business Ready, we have already helped
13,000 new Australian business get started this year.

Another example for small business is our partnership with the human resources
innovator, Employment Hero.

Employment Hero provides everything a small business needs to recruit, manage, pay
and engage their workforce in a simple cloud-based solution.

Through the partnership, our business bankers can deliver Employment Hero to business
owners and help them stay on top of important but time consuming administration.

This deepens our relationship and moves ANZ from their bank to their business partner
and drives real shareholder value.

These are early examples but they show that we understand and embrace the changing
world around us and we are investing in change to develop new growth opportunities.

Our strategy in this rapidly changing world is to build digital ecosystems around
customer needs, to collaborate with technology partners and create innovative products
and services.

This will deepen relationships, drive higher levels of growth and unlock new value for
both customers and for shareholders.

We have also been reshaping the wider ANZ team. Getting the balance right between
experience and fresh thinking.

Last year we brought in Maile Carnegie from Google to help build digital and data
capability.

This year Gerard Florian joined us from Dimension Data to rethink our technology
architecture; and Kathryn van der Merwe joined us from Bain Consulting to overhaul our
approach to people and culture.

Our experienced executives are also leading change throughout the business.

Fred Ohlsson for example, a long-standing ANZ executive, is leading the implementation
of new ways of working in the Australia Division, commonly known as agile.

This new way of working is allowing us to respond more quickly to customer needs,
create higher staff engagement and make further improvements in efficiency.

And it’s already seeing a much less hierarchical ANZ, one built around small,
collaborative, self-directed teams focussed on delivering continuous improvement in the
customer experience.

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It’s also resulting in a more efficient business with fewer, but better products and lower
costs of delivery.

In a digital world lower cost and better customer experience go hand in hand.

In the past two years, we have closed more than 200 products, decommissioned around
100 systems, and removed 70 tonnes of computer hardware. That’s better for customers
and shareholders.

We're a leaner organisation, with 4% fewer people than a year ago, and 12% fewer than
our peak three years ago.

This requires difficult decisions about our people, but we work hard to minimise job
losses and ensure that when people do leave, they're treated fairly and with respect.

And we have invested heavily to support this with improved redundancy terms, more
retraining and better employee assistance programs.

In the past two years we have agreed to sell 16 businesses. This includes the recent
sale of our Pensions and Investments business to IOOF and our Australian Life Insurance
business to Zurich Insurance.

In total, the sale of these 16 businesses has simplified our portfolio, reduced our
operating risk, freed up investment and strengthened our capital position which is now
the strongest of our peers.

Shareholders are benefiting too. Simplification makes it easier to invest in long-term
profitable growth and will improve returns and dividends for shareholders over the
medium to long-term.

For example, you saw our announcement yesterday that we will buyback $1.5 billion of
ANZ shares. This would not have been possible without our simplification agenda.

Finally, underpinning how we will win is our culture.

We cannot impose a culture on an organisation with ANZ’s history and its size, but
through our actions, leadership and interventions, we can give it shape.

As David said in his address, we understand the importance of rebuilding bridges with
the community through progressive, positive and proactive engagement.

Your executive team is spending more time listening to our people, our shareholders, our
customers and the broader community.

Personally, I have spent much more time in branches, in call centres, in regional and
rural Australia and across our Asian and New Zealand network, engaging with the
community directly on social media and even talkback radio.

I will continue to do so. I invest this time because it's key to our strategy.

It's key to our brand. It's key to our customer proposition and it’s key to our earning our
social licence and building social support.

So in summary, the new ANZ is driven by four factors.

The first is focus. Choosing a few things to do, and doing them extremely well.

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The second is speed. Listening to customers, testing and launching new features and
solutions, and doing so quickly.

Third, there is digital. Building a bank which balances digital capability with empathetic
human design and service.

And finally, culture. Building a stronger sense of our core purpose, ethics and fairness,
and investing in people who can sense and navigate a rapidly changing world.

We have a clear plan and we’ve made significant progress this year. We are leaner,
stronger and fitter; better placed to win while still investing to deliver long-term earnings
per share growth and stronger dividends for shareholders.

But this is only the start. I'm incredibly excited about the opportunities we’re creating.
I'm also pleased that so many of our people are deeply engaged with what we are doing
and really embracing the need to change.

On your behalf, I thank them for their hard work and commitment to doing a better job
for our customers, for shareholders and for the community.

By any measure, we still have a great deal to do.

But I’m confident that we have the right team to deliver a better bank for all our
stakeholders – a bank that can truly shape a world where people and communities
thrive.

Thank you.