The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price has been on a rollercoaster ride of late.
Last month, the banking giant's shares were hovering around the $28 mark before plunging 12% to $24.65. The sudden fall came despite ANZ not making any announcements to the market.
A likely catalyst was the weakness in the banking sector following the US-led sanctions on the Russian financial system. As a result, the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ) fell 4% over the month up until 7 March.
Nonetheless, the ANZ share price has quickly rebounded and is currently at $27.75, up 0.11% for the day.
Let's take a look at the latest announcement from the bank this week.
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Bank launches ANZ Plus
In Wednesday's media release, ANZ announced it has launched a new digital banking service, ANZ Plus.
Built on a new banking platform, ANZ Plus is an everyday account featuring an array of benefits for customers.
The latest product offering from the bank is designed to give Australians more visibility and control of their money. With no monthly account fees, ANZ Plus is being touted as a 'multi-goal savings account'.
Some of the new features include:
- Categorising spending within the app, allowing customers to track spending habits more easily.
- Upcoming expenses, like regular bills and subscriptions, can be predicted and planned for; and
- Customers can set and track multiple financial goals without having to open additional accounts.
Is the new digital offering worth the investment?
While there has been criticism about the slow pace of the project, customers are likely to welcome any improvements to their banking.
The biggest drive is for users to better understand where their money is spent and help with savings goals. This approach is to provide the necessary tools to improve a customer's financial wellbeing.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott commented:
The release of ANZ Plus marks the beginning of a multi-year plan to provide modern, digital products and services for our customers, and significantly better systems and processes for ANZ.
Now we have these scalable new technology platforms in place, we can adapt to the needs of customers quickly and add new features and functionality on a regular basis, including new products.
Elliott hopes the new platform will help ANZ shed its reputation as a technology laggard, The Australian reported. There are also plans to add mortgages and credit cards to the platform down the track as the bank revamps its digital approach.
About the ANZ share price
The ANZ share price has continued to move sideways and is trading roughly the same as this time last year.
Despite registering a 4% gain in the past month, when looking at year to date, its shares are also flat.
ANZ has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.82 and commands a market capitalisation of approximately $77.83 billion.
