The ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price is under the spotlight after the ASX bank share announced its 2030 strategy.
ANZ’s 2030 strategy
There are four strategic pillars to the ASX bank’s strategy to win the preference of customers, shareholders and the community.
Customers – ANZ said it wants to raise the standard of every digital and human interaction for customers with “market leading, differentiated and superior propositions.”
Simplicity – On productivity, the bank said it will deliver “organisational simplification, divest non-core assets and improve efficiency.”
Resilience – ANZ wants to lead the industry in trust, safety and risk management. It said it will adhere to the highest standards of non-financial risk management and strengthen end-to-end accountability across the bank.
Delivering value – The bank wants to sustainably improve financial performance by “delivering higher returning growth and results that matter” for stakeholders.
Initiatives
ANZ announced a number of initiatives that it’s going to work on, so I will pick out a few.
It wants to attract “high quality” deposits and accelerate customer base growth, so it will design differentiated propositions for customer segments including the ‘mass affluent’ and people relocating to Australia.
The bank also intends to materially invest in and train its own mortgage sales force, aiming to increase the number of lenders in its branches by up to 50%. It also wants to improve its proprietary (owned) channels, improve bankers’ tools and improve the contact centre experience.
It plans to materially increase its bankers by around 50% in its Australian commercial division and it will be supported by a new academy to develop its own talent, with better tools and systems to boost banker capability and productivity.
The business also said it has five immediate priorities.
First, embedding the bank’s new leadership team. Second, integrating Suncorp Bank faster to deliver value. Third, accelerating the delivery of the ANZ Plus digital front-end to all retail and small business customers. Fourth, reduce duplication to simplify the bank, while stopping initiatives that don’t align with its strategy. Fifth, enhancing non-financial risk management to improve customer outcomes.
Capital and dividends
The bank also announced it’s going to cease the remaining $800 million of the remaining share buyback. This will allow the bank to return surplus capital of around $1 billion from its non-operating holding company to the bank.
It also revealed it expects to apply a 1.5% discount on the next two dividend reinvestment plans, which it expects will not be neutralised.
ANZ said the board is confident in the strategy and with the capital actions announced today and expects the FY25 final dividend to be unchanged from the first half. The franking rate for that dividend is also expected to be maintained.
Final thoughts on the ANZ share price
Time will tell how effective ANZ is at delivering this new strategy. It’s talking about doing the right things, but increasing market share and margins is easier said than done.
There are plenty of other ASX shares I’d buy first before looking at ANZ shares because of its already-large size and the competitive environment.
