ANZ National bides time over merger plans

ANZ National Bank is in no rush to merge its two brands as it struggles to get customers on to a single computer system.

The bank, which owns the ANZ and National Bank brands, said yesterday it would spend about another A$90 million (NZ$116M) on developing a common computer system which it hoped to have ready later this year, almost a year late and double the cost.

Bank spokesman Stefan Herrick said there was no urgency to review the brands because the bank had the rights to the Lloyds’ black horse until 2014.

Massey University head of banking studies David Tripe said it was too complicated to merge the bank before all the IT issues had been resolved. Once both banks were on a common computer platform, customers would be able to do their banking at either brand.

‘‘I suspect that in most cases, for a while at least, customers will want to be served by the brand they know,’’ Tripe said.

That would also allow the bank to assess customer behaviour and the risks of moving customers from the premium National Bank brand to ANZ. ANZ National would be ‘‘extremely nervous’’ about potential customer losses from a forced move, Tripe said.

The common computer systems alone would provide cost savings by simplifying the business, he said. Large-scale branch closures were unlikely because the same number of customers still needed to be catered for.