ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares are outperforming on Monday.
In morning trade, the banking giant's shares are down slightly to $34.82.
This compares favourably to a 0.7% decline by the ASX 200 index.
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Why are ANZ shares outperforming?
This outperformance has been driven by a relatively positive reaction from the market to the release of the big four bank's eagerly anticipated strategy update.
This morning, ANZ announced ANZ 2030, which is an update on the bank's immediate priorities and strategic focus for the next five years.
ANZ's CEO, Nuno Matos, was excited to announce the new strategy. He said:
Today is an exciting day in the 197-year history of ANZ. Under these changes we will unlock our potential to win the preference of customers, shareholders and the community. ANZ has a strong, diversified business with two scale retail markets, two market-leading positions in Institutional and New Zealand and a global footprint across 29 markets.
Under our new strategy, customers are at the centre of everything we do – whether it's improving their experiences, offering them leading technologies and platforms, or keeping them safe. Our first focus is to get back to basics and deliver our immediate priorities, while our four strategic pillars will then accelerate our revenue growth and see all four divisions perform to their full potential. In a competitive banking environment, this must include a focus on delivering differentiated and superior propositions, raising the standard of every digital and human interaction in our channels, and avoiding disintermediation, while materially improving productivity levels.
What is changing?
The release highlights that ANZ 2030 is focused on four strategic pillars.
The first is Customer First. It highlights that with market-leading, differentiated and superior propositions, the bank will raise the standard of every digital and human interaction for customers.
The next strategic pillar is Simplicity. ANZ will aim to set the market standard for productivity. It will deliver organisational simplification, divest non-core assets, and improve efficiency.
The third pillar is Resilience. It aims to lead the industry in trust, safety, and risk management. Management notes that the bank will adhere to the highest standards of non-financial risk management and strengthen end-to-end accountability.
Finally, its fourth pillar is Delivering Value. It intends to sustainably improve its financial performance. This includes creating lasting value by delivering higher returning growth and results that matter for stakeholders.
What about its businesses?
In Australia Retail, the 2030 strategy will see the bank materially invest in its own mortgage sales force with the aim of increasing the number of lenders in branches by up to 50%.
For Australia Commercial, it plans to materially increase its bankers by close to 50%. This will be supported by a new Commercial Bankers Academy to develop talent internally. It also sees a significant opportunity to grow its Private Bank, which currently has 17,500 customers. As a result, it will increase the size of its relationship manager workforce.
Dividends and buyback update
As it executes on its strategic pillar, management notes that it will take actions that impact its capital. As a result, in order to maintain a strong balance sheet, it will be ending the remaining $800 million share buyback. It also expects to apply a 1.5% discount to its next two dividend reinvestment plans.
In addition, it has guided to a final dividend for FY 2025 to be unchanged from the first half (83 cents per share) with its franking rate also expected to be maintained (70%).
