19th century
In 1840, Union Bank of Australia (UBA), a British bank with head office in London, agreed with the New Zealand Company to accompany settlers to New Zealand to provide them with banking services. UBA opened a branch in Petone, across the harbour from Wellington, where it transferred the branch shortly thereafter. Between 1840 and 1847 the Union Bank issued its own bank notes for circulation in New Zealand. These were initially issued under British law until 1844 when the New Zealand Governor signed an ordinance allowing the Bank to issue bank notes but required that these be a minimum of 1 pound and redeemable at demand for gold or silver.[7]
In 1848, The Governor withdrew Union Bank's right to issue bank notes and transferred these rights to the Colonial Bank of Issue (CBI). UBA notes in circulation were withdrawn and replaced with CBI bank notes. UBA objected, and every day it took whatever CBI notes it had received that day to the CBI and demanded redemption in gold; when UBA's customers wanted to withdraw money, the bank paid them in gold rather than CBI notes. This policy, when combined with previous confusion related to the issue of NZ Government debt, and support from the local commercial community, resulted in the CBI ultimately being shut down. The same year, UBA opened a branch in Auckland, and a small number of branches elsewhere in the country followed. The following year, UBC resumed issuing bank notes in New Zealand under an act of the New Zealand Parliament. (The Paper Currency Act 1856). In 1864, Bank of Australasia, another London-based bank, opened branches in Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch.
20th century
In 1951, UBA and the Bank of Australasia merged to become the Australia and New Zealand Bank. In 1968, ANZ Bank joined Databank Systems Limited consortium to provide joint data processing services. Two years later, ANZ Bank merged with a third London-based bank, the English, Scottish and Australian Bank, to form ANZ Banking Group. In 1976, ANZ moved its corporate headquarters to Melbourne, Australia. In 1979, An Act of Parliament permitted ANZ to incorporate its branches in New Zealand as ANZ Banking Group (New Zealand) Ltd. ANZ sold 25% of the shares to the public. In 1983, ANZ opened its New Zealand head office in Wellington.[8] In 1989, ANZ bought PostBank (the Post Office Savings Bank) from the New Zealand government in a privatization. Two years earlier, the Government had separated the Post Office's banking business into a separate entity to prepare it for sale. In 1999, ANZ launched internet banking.[9]
21st century
In 2002, ING and ANZ formed a joint venture under the ING brand[10] The following year, ANZ bought National Bank of New Zealand from Lloyds TSB.[11] In 2008, ANZ launched a mobile application.[9] The same year, ANZ announced around 400 jobs were to be moved to Bangalore, India.
In 2009, ANZ Group CEO Mike Smith announced the Group's "super regional strategy", saying the Bank aims to not be "Kiwi" or "Australian" but a global bank. In September 2010, ANZ New Zealand became the sole owner of ING New Zealand Limited, which formed part of ING; ING provided investment advice for the investment and insurance products sold by ANZ and The National Bank. ING New Zealand Limited changed its name to OnePath Limited in November 2010.[12] The same year, David Hisco replaces outgoing Jenny Fagg as CEO ANZ New Zealand.[13]
