ANZ Group (ANZ) readying for a transition period
The market has given the thumbs down to ANZ’s appointment of Nuno Matos, a London-based former head of wealth and personal banking at HSBC, as the next CEO. His lack of Australian experience appears to be the issue, arguably good or bad. ANZ is touting Matos as the man to continue Shayne Elliott’s strategy, primarily the ANZ-Suncorp merger deal and the ANZ Plus digital banking platform. The complex and potentially expensive task of integrating the two banks is expected to take until 2028 to complete and, by definition, carries with it risks. Still, a fresh set of eyes/ideas may prove valuable.
Like all of the “Big Four” banks, ANZ is expensive historically, but it’s a brave investor with no exposure to the sector, making up ~30% of the ASX200. We can see it underperforming its peers in the short term, but its 6% forecast yield over the coming 12-months should attract buyers into ongoing weakness.
- We like the risk/reward towards ANZ back around $28
