Planners will remain part of ANZ’s customer facing proposition
About 300 financial planners within ANZ will help ensure the bank maintains the impression that nothing has changed following the big banking group’s disposal of its wealth businesses to IOOF and Zurich.
ANZ and Zurich Financial Services confirmed to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today that Zurich was the acquirer of ANZ’s OnePath insurance business on similar terms to IOOF acquiring its financial planning and pensions business in October.
However, ANZ chief executive, Shayne Elliott said the outcome for the banking group’s customers would be that they noticed little change.
“Nothing has changed from our customers’ perspective except we’re going to be partnering in terms of the manufacturing and management of those products with some of the world’s best companies and so we keep the customer front end, and an important part that people might see and know is the financial planner,” he said.
“So the ANZ financial planners, which is about 300 of them across the country, they’re going to stay,” Elliott said. “They’re still going to be working in our branches and talking to our customers about their financial prospects.”
Elliott acknowledged that ANZ had originally sought to sell the wealth and insurance businesses in a line but ultimately decided that a split was required.
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