The announcement follows ANZ’s release of new research report into gender inequality in Australia, which found that over their lifetime Australian women earn on average $700,000 less than men.

ANZ Chief Executive Officer Mike Smith said: “Promoting diversity and gender equality is a priority in our business. This includes pay equality and an equal representation of women in leadership roles.

“Much more still needs to be done though to achieve full gender equality in the workplace and while we recognise we’re not there yet, today’s announcement is about rethinking how we address the imbalances women face in the workplace and in retirement,” Mr Smith said.

ANZ’s new measures include:

• Parental leave will be paid for up to 24 months, up from 12 months, for Australian based employees on their return to work.
• Top-up superannuation payments of $500 per annum to ANZ’s permanent and fixed-term female employees in Australia to address the gap in retirement savings.
• Free superannuation advice for customers with less than $50,000 in superannuation to help them grow their knowledge and confidence to support their financial decisions.
• Specialist financial planners trained in the needs and preferences of women.

ANZ CEO Global Wealth Joyce Phillips said: “Women play a critical role in global economies – however our report shows they can still earn up to 36 per cent less than men and retire with around half the superannuation.

“Over time, we believe these new measures will help improve the financial security of women at ANZ by directly targeting the areas of advice, superannuation and financial education,” Ms Phillips said.

Click the infographic to download the PDF.

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Prime Access is a fee-for-service package introduced in 2003 and includes priority access to financial planners, investment monitoring alerts and a documented annual review.

In accordance with its obligations under the Corporations Act, ANZ reported the issue to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and commenced a remediation program supported by external consultants PwC and law firm Clayton Utz.

ANZ estimates the cost of reimbursing around 8,500 clients who did not receive a documented annual review to be approximately $30 million. ANZ is working with ASIC to finalise the refund methodology and payments will commence as soon as the methodology is agreed.

ANZ CEO Global Wealth Joyce Phillips said: “We sincerely apologise to our clients for not delivering all of the Prime Access services we promised and we will reimburse affected clients as soon as possible.

“We have also put in place a range of measures to ensure this issue does not happen again. This includes improved training, technology, audit and supervision as well as including the documented annual review as an essential component of balanced scorecards for our financial planners,” Ms Phillips said.

ANZ confirmed that all Prime Access annual reviews and documentation due since 2013 have been delivered.

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Joyce Philllips

ANZ yesterday announced the formalisation of its strategic alliance with leading Swiss private bank, Vontobel, with the signing of a Co-operation Agreement that will enable ANZ to offer its private clients a distinct proposition through exposure to Vontobel’s differentiated investment and product expertise.

Set for an initial period of five years, the alliance with Vontobel will provide ANZ’s clients with access to sophisticated investment solutions. Additionally, Vontobel will act as an advisor to ANZ’s Global Wealth business in the areas of global asset allocation and equity investing.

ANZ Global Wealth CEO Joyce Phillips said: “Through our alliance with Vontobel we will provide our clients across the Asia Pacific region with world-class investment and asset allocation solutions, which includes expertise and capability in global asset allocation, equity investing, and sophisticated client advisory services.”

Vontobel CEO Zeno Staub added: “This alliance with ANZ positions our company as an active wealth and asset manager with a high level of investment and product expertise in a region that is experiencing very dynamic growth.”

Full capabilities are expected to be made available to clients in 2014. In the interim, ANZ and Vontobel will focus on implementing services and training staff in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The ANZ-Vontobel Co-operation Agreement follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between ANZ and Vontobel in late 2012.

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ANZ release digital SMSF fund.

ANZ yesterday announced the launch of its new digital solution for Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF) as a further step in its strategy to create simpler and more convenient ways for customers to better engage with their wealth.

ANZ CEO Global Wealth Joyce Phillips said: “This new SMSF solution will enable ANZ to provide clients with an integrated digital product that helps them manage all their self-managed superannuation needs in one place.

“This is a further step in our ambition to transform the wealth industry in Australia. Digital and mobile technology is increasingly driving how we operate and how we serve our customers, and as their behaviours change, we’re focused on finding new ways to better connect customers with their wealth.

“We see an opportunity for ANZ to become a key player in the SMSF market, which today is the largest superannuation segment in Australia with assets of around $500 billion,” Ms Phillips said.

‘ANZ Self Managed Super’ will be made available to customers from early December 2013. The key benefits for customers will include:

• Convenience – being able to have a full view of all SMSF assets and information in one online dashboard so that decisions can be made in real time; industry leading simple application process;
• Control – 24/7 access through an online portal, which also provides reporting, investment monitoring, document storage and underlying product transacting capability;
• Security and compliance – customised alert systems (via text message, email or post) allowing customers to stay on top of their SMSF compliance and legal obligations;
• Value – integration with a wide range of products and solutions across wealth, retail and commercial banking;
• Efficiency – completion of tax and audit requirements involved with running an SMSF, underpinned by industrial strength accounting software.

In delivering the new digital SMSF solution, ANZ will partner with specialist SMSF service provider Super IQ Pty Ltd.

As part of this agreement with Super IQ, ANZ also announced today that it had agreed to sell its wholly owned SMSF accounting, tax and compliance business, Super Concepts Pty Ltd to Super IQ.

The sale of Super Concepts is not material to ANZ and will be completed by close of business today. The terms of the sale were not disclosed.

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Mrs Thompson is a career banker with more than 30 years’ experience in financial services in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Commenting on the appointment, Global Wealth CEO Joyce Phillips said: “We created this role to help us further transform the way in which we engage with our customers and deepen the relationships we have with ANZ’s existing customer base. Kerri is an experienced executive with a track record of growing businesses and has a strong focus on building customer relationships,” Ms Phillips said.

Mrs Thompson has been Managing Director Retail New Zealand since March 2010, during which time ANZ has significantly increased market share in key products and improved customer satisfaction. Prior to joining ANZ, Mrs Thompson was a senior executive at General Electric and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Mrs Thompson will be based in Sydney and will commence in the role on 2 December 2013. An announcement regarding ANZ’s Managing Director Retail New Zealand will be made in due course.

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Ms Phillip’s election means the FSC’s board is now at full complement with 14 directors.

“Joyce brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the financial services industry in Australia and globally and will be a valued contributor to the Financial Services Council,” FSC chairman Peter Maher said today.

Financial Services Council’s Board
Chairman
Peter Maher, Group Head of Banking & Financial Services Group, Macquarie Bank

Deputy Chairmen
Greg Cooper, CEO, Schroder Investment Management Australia
Craig Meller, Managing Director, AMP Financial Services Ltd

Directors

• Pauline Blight-Johnston, Managing Director, RGA Reinsurance Company of Australia
• Robin Burns, Managing Director, Equity Trustees Ltd
• Brad Cooper, CEO, BT Financial Group
• Gerard Doherty, Managing Director, Fidelity Worldwide Investment
• Ben Heap, Managing Director, UBS Global Asset Management (Australia)
• John James, Chairman & Managing Director, Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd
• Joyce Phillips, CEO, Global Wealth & Private, ANZ
• Annabel Spring, Group Executive, Wealth Management, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
• Geoff Summerhayes, CEO, Suncorp Life
• Steve Tucker, CEO, MLC Ltd
• Maria Wilton, Managing Director, Franklin Templeton Investments Australia Ltd

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