In its interview with bluenotes released on 9 November 2026 alongside the FY26 full year results, ANZ Group Holdings Chief Executive Officer Nuno Matos outlined first-year progress on the ANZ 2030 strategy. Matos described FY26 as a “foundational year” and said the transformation is “happening at pace”, with the businesses “gaining momentum”.
The CEO highlighted that returns improved and that value is being delivered to shareholders. He said ANZ is “absolutely on track” to deliver the five immediate priorities of the first phase:
- A significant overhaul of culture and how performance is driven
- Integrating Suncorp Bank with ANZ Group
- A single customer front-end and brand
- A significant change in productivity
- Improved delivery of services to customers
Nuno Matos, Chief Executive Officer
“…this is our first year of our ANZ 2030 strategy, and it’s a very, very important year. It was a foundational year…”
Navigating a complex environment for customers
Matos said the world remains resilient and growing at good pace, with many customers taking advantage of opportunities. He outlined how ANZ is positioned across three customer segments.
Large corporates
Matos pointed to big corporations taking advantage of the technology boom, with exports of technology in Asia rising significantly.
Small business
The CEO described the environment as very challenging, with cost bases under pressure and business models needing to change to remain relevant. ANZ stands by to support them.
Consumers
For its eight million consumers in Australia and three million in New Zealand, Matos said ANZ stands ready to help weather cost-of-living pressures they might feel. The CEO’s comments span corporate, small business and consumer customers.
The divisional reporting changes that moved roughly $79.8 billion of home loans into Business & Private Bank reshaped how segment earnings are compared, even though group cash profit was left untouched.
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A deliberately targeted approach to AI
Asked what a deliberately targeted approach means in practice, Matos said ANZ has one single strategy, ANZ 2030, and that AI is one of several enablers of it. “AI is not a strategy in itself,” he said.
He described a framework through which AI can support the strategic pillars in three ways:
- Transform and improve the way ANZ interacts with customers, delivering a better experience.
- Improve productivity by automating processes, which also contributes to delivering better to customers.
- Improve how risks are managed, for example avoiding fraud or scams for customers.
Matos also said AI is a powerful technology that poses risks, so ANZ cannot go into “a free usage of AI”. Guardrails are needed on what AI is allowed to do in the organisation, what data it can access and how it interacts with platforms and systems, so the value of AI can be extracted “in a safe manner”.
Nuno Matos, Chief Executive Officer
“AI is not a strategy in itself. We deliver to customers, AI helps us to do that well.”
2027 milestones: what happens next for ANZ
Matos said 2027 is the second year of the first phase of the strategy. He named three things that will happen:
- The Suncorp Bank integration will be concluded by June 2027, which means all customers will be under one brand.
- Three months after that, ANZ will have only one mobile platform and one internet platform for its eight million customers in Retail and Small Business.
- The evolution in non-financial risk, and in how ANZ delivers to customers, has to be implemented.
Delivery in New Zealand will fall to Ben Kelleher, the former Chief Risk Officer who takes over as ANZ NZ CEO after Antonia Watson’s retirement, giving the risk agenda a senior sponsor in that market.
In discussing the five priorities, Matos also referred to having a single customer front-end and a single brand for eight million customers in Retail and Business Banking by September 2027.
The CEO said that if 2027 is well delivered, ANZ will be in a “much stronger competitive position” at the end of the year. That would allow the second phase of the strategy to begin, in which ANZ starts “accelerating growth, and outperform the market”.
Nuno Matos, Chief Executive Officer
“Just these three things will make this bank a fantastic competitor for 2028 and on.”
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