On the road - connecting with customers

After two years in lockdown and travel largely off-limits, early April marked an exciting milestone for me as I travelled around Australia, visiting regional and capital cities.

There’s no denying the past few years have been difficult. Prolonged border closures, shifting supply chains, shortages of raw materials and energy supply challenges, along with both market and geopolitical uncertainty.

Added to this have been the restrictions around our movement, including work from home requirements – limiting the richness that comes from meeting someone in person, whether that be bumping into a colleague in the office or having a face-to-face conversation with a customer.

Over the course of the week-long trip, I had the pleasure of meeting many of our wonderful ANZ team members and customers – both at ANZ offices and visiting our customers' premises.

Having visited four Australian states and five cities, I wanted to share some key themes I took from my travels.

?Australian regional opportunity

Regional communities play such a vital role in the prosperity of Australia, and ANZ continues to support our regional customers to grow into the many opportunities that are emerging and evident today.

Our regional landscape has proved to be highly resilient to COVID-19 and is an increasingly compelling proposition for investment and living. Improving technology and transport links, flexible work practices, and affordability, all have the potential to attract a broader and deeper population and investment pool that can benefit local businesses, industry and economies in multiple ways.

Agribusiness and regional communities have been able to rebound from extended drought, and while some areas continue to be impacted by natural disaster events, their relentless resilience is to be commended.

Environmental sustainability

ANZ views the rapid shift in how we produce, distribute and consume energy as one of the most transformative for us and our customers. Key areas of focus include supporting the electrification of the transport supply chain, commercialisation of hydrogen, financing energy efficient buildings and partnering with our customers to establish, develop and execute transition plans.

We recently announced a strategic partnership with global climate change investment and advisory firm, Pollination. The partnership underpins our environmental sustainability strategy, which is focused on helping customers tap into the significant opportunities resulting from the global transition to net zero.

We’re partnering with Pollination because of their unrivalled expertise in environmental sustainability. Their 120-strong team of globally recognised experts in climate law, sustainable finance, nature and conservation, are leading the way.

?Digital transformation

At ANZ, we will continue to support the digital transformation of our customers alongside our own digital journey.

We have just launched ANZ Plus, a new retail proposition, which is specifically designed to help people manage their money better. ANZ Plus is just the beginning of a multi-year plan to release improved products and services to our customers, built on modern technology and best-in-class systems.

This aspiration to lift the standard of financial literacy across our customer base is a core part of the next chapter of the bank we’re building at ANZ. Access to digital tools which can help drive healthy financial habits are an absolute necessity as we strive to create a more equal world for our customers and the community.

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It really was invaluable and energising to be able to connect with our people and customers in person and I look forward to more opportunities to do so over the coming months.