ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares are having a tough start to the year.
In afternoon trade, the banking giant's shares are down over 3% to $22.89.
This follows broad weakness in the banking sector today amid heightened market volatility.
What else is going on with ANZ shares?
As you might have noticed recently, ANZ has been trading under the ticker code ANZDA since late last year.
This is due to its decision to establish ANZ Group Holdings Limited as the new listed non-operating holding company (NOHC) of the ANZ group.
In order to make this change, ANZ shares had to be shifted temporarily to the ANZDA ticker code so the company could issue new ANZ NOHC shares to shareholders under the original ticker code.
This change is now more or less complete after the bank issued ANZ NOHC shares to eligible shareholders this morning on a one-for-one basis.
However, some ineligible foreign shareholders did not receive ANZ NOHC shares. Instead, these shareholders will receive the cash proceeds of the sale of the ANZ NOHC shares by the sale agent.
The release reveals that there are 1,838,105 ANZ NOHC shares attributable to ineligible foreign shareholders that will be sold for this reason. It's unclear if these have been sold today. But if they have, this would explain why ANZ shares are falling more than other big four banks this afternoon.
Why the change?
Last month, ANZ chair, Paul O'Sullivan, explained the rationale for the change to a non-operating hold company model. He said:
Customers are demanding more from their banks. Better services, better products and better digital solutions. Consistent with this, traditional banking is facing significant disruption from new non-bank competitors, mainly global technology companies launching financial services products.
Understandably, these businesses are not regulated in the same way as banks like ANZ. This new NOHC will allow ANZ to partner with technology companies on a level playing field. Essentially, the restructure is about making our banking business more efficient by creating a better structure for investing in our non-bank partners. It will provide greater strategic and operational flexibility.
ANZ shares are expected to resume trading under the original ANZ ticker code from the commencement of trade on Wednesday.
