ANZ shareholders vent anger at former Kiwi boss at bank’s Sydney AGM
Friday, 19 December 2025
Shayne Elliott, the New Zealander who headed the Australian ANZ banking group, was heavily criticised by angry shareholders at the trans-Tasman banking group’s annual shareholder meeting in Sydney.
One shareholder, who said Elliott had been paid “A$70 million-odd” during his tenure, ripped into what he called Elliott’s “undeniable, poor, very costly leadership”.
He called on the ANZ board to move to remove a further A$8m in unvested long-term bonuses that he said Elliott could still get.
ANZ chair Paul O’Sullivan said none of the bank’s executives would get a short-term bonus this year.
Read more:
Unemployed face the toughest job market in 30 years: Reserve Bank
ASB could face $6.73m penalty for money laundering ‘shortcomings’
And he mounted a defence of Elliott: “I think it's important to recognise Shayne did do some very important good things for the bank. He's widely applauded for the work he did on reversing ANZ out of its Asian expansion strategy.
“He assisted us in acquiring Suncorp [bank], and despite getting initially rejected by the regulator, getting it approved.”
And O’Sullivan said: “We have actually pretty much doubled the synergies we expect to get out of Suncorp.
“But as you say, there have also been issues where we need to take some accountability,” he told the shareholder.
O’Sullivan’s words were a far less stirring tribute than the ones he published in December 2024 when Elliott announced his intention to leave the banking group, which owns ANZ in New Zealand.
Then, O’Sullivan lauded Elliott as the first big bank chief executive to identify the need for simplification.
“He rebalanced our portfolio to materially improve the capital efficiency and focus of the group while also making our business less complex and safer to manage. Under Shayne’s leadership, ANZ now has one of the world’s leading institutional businesses, a new retail bank platform built on industry-leading technology and a culture focussed on helping customers and communities thrive,” O’Sullivan said at the time.
“He will be long remembered as a CEO that embedded a purpose-led strategy, setting ANZ on the path to long-term, sustained success,” he said.
But, several months later, the bank told shareholders its annual profit had fallen by 10% compared with the previous year, and ANZ and Elliott are squaring off in court.
ANZ announced last week that Elliott was suing it in the New South Wales Supreme Court over bonuses he believes he is entitled to, and which O’Sullivan said ANZ believed it was in a strong position to defend.
O’Sullivan said regulations required ANZ “to stream incentives to executives out over many years”.
“What you've seen in this year's remuneration report is we have enforced some accountability in terms of the former CEO, in terms of reducing and taking away some of those payments in future years,” he said.
ANZ Group has a new chief executive in Nuno Matos, but it has suffered large reputational blows from things it did before he took charge.
In April, Australian regulator APRA required it to hold more capital because of “long-standing”, and unresolved concerns over ANZ’s “non-financial risk management practices and risk culture” which dated back to 2019.
The bank also faces an A$240m fine for four pieces of historic bad behaviour: Acting unconscionably in its dealings with the Australian government while managing a $14 billion bond deal; failing to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices and failing to have proper hardship processes in place; making false and misleading statements about its savings interest rates and failing to pay the promised interest rate to tens of thousands of customers; and failing to refund fees charged to thousands of dead customers and not responding to loved ones trying to deal with deceased estates within the required timeframe.
Some shareholders were critical of the board over the bank’s regulatory failures and demanded accountability.
O’Sullivan, ANZ chair since 2020, said the board had been proactive in identifying issues, stepping in and taking action.
“Finally, I would add, six of the nine directors have joined us just in the last 2.5 years, so I think that's also something to be taken into account.”
One shareholder felt it was “disgraceful” that O’Sullivan had not even considered releasing the first 2019 APRA report into its risk management failures.
O’Sullivan sarcastically thanked her “for the compliment”, and said: “Next question please.”
That came from a businessman who had seen his company’s accounts frozen twice by ANZ as part of the anti-money laundering screening.
The second time was on a staff payday, and came after the business had already satisfied the bank it was not a danger for money laundering.
Shareholders didn’t hold back on other topics at the meeting. Some claimed ANZ was failing to address climate change adequately. Several more complained about its policies on deforestation.
One representative from a networking group of people who had complaints against ANZ said the bank had the highest complaints rate of any Australian banks. He said the bank’s treatment of customers with complaints was poor.
O’Sullivan acknowledged there had been some poor experiences.
But, he said: “We have no intention at all, certainly not as a policy or a procedure to delay anything. That's absolutely not the intent.”
The bank was also criticised for how it had treated workers in a vast restructuring project, which had seen some workers lose their jobs the week before Christmas.
The meeting also saw a question asked on behalf of New Zealand anti-monopolist Tex Edwards, the founder of 2degrees, who has been campaigning for structural change in the banking industry to lift competition.
“Independent analysts indicate New Zealand operations return on equity is 21%, whereas management indicates this is 13%. New Zealand has provided significant profitability to the group. Given three New Zealand government inquiries, is New Zealand a risk and governance issue for shareholders, and can you explain the board's position?”
O’Sullivan didn’t address the return on equity issue, but he did celebrate the profitability of ANZ’s New Zealand subsidiary.
“We think New Zealand's actually a badge of honour, a badge of pride for the bank. We are the number one bank in New Zealand. One in every two Kiwis bank with ANZ. It's an incredibly well-run bank. That's the reason why it is the leading bank in New Zealand. It has performed strongly and well,” he said.
“So, I hear the concerns, but I think if you look at the actual performance of ANZ in New Zealand, it's been very strong.”
After the AGM, Edwards told The Post: “The ANZ shareholders meeting is such an embarrassment to the NZ regulators and Government.
“Kiwis are having the mickey taken out of them in Australian board rooms,” he said.