ANZ NATIONAL LOOKS AT ADDITIONAL BRANDS
ANZ National's new managing director in New Zealand, Graham Hodges, in an interview with the Dominion Post said the bank may add more brands, targeted at specific segments of the banking market. He also said the bank wouldn't consider unifying the ANZ Bank and National Bank brand.Graham Hodges told the newspaper that development of additional banking brands was a common strategy in other countries. Hodges replaced John Anderson as managing director of ANZ National at the end of 2005. Anderson used to be managing director of National Bank of New Zealand. ANZ bought NBNZ from Lloyds Bank at the end of 2003.Hodges told the Dominion Post he'd been working on a review of the bank and its businesses, but said the two-brand strategy would stay. He told the newspaper that the maintenance of two brands was a Reserve Bank requirement."Our National Bank people want to be part of National Bank and our ANZ people want to be part of ANZ and to me that is sensible, so that will continue," he said.Hodges told the newspaper the bank would invest at least $100 million on three or four projects over the next two years, including branch telling and internet banking platforms.