It is now ten months since ANZ unveiled its A$4.9 billion takeover bid for Suncorp Bank, and since then ANZ, Suncorp and other key parties have been circumspect in their disclosures on the progress of the numerous negotiations needed to push this offer over the line. On Friday, Banking Day asked for detail and colour around the bank’s engagement with the Queensland government. “They’ve been good to deal with, extremely pragmatic and extremely clear,” Shayne Elliott, ANZ’s CEO said. ANZ and Suncorp are relying on the state’s Labor government to relax or remove prescriptive provisions in the enabling legislation for the merger of the Suncorp insurance group with Metway Bank, more than 25 years ago. “It’s up to the Queensland government when they want to make that public. I’d imagine over coming months,” Elliott said. The ACCC, one of the arbiters of whether this merger may proceed, released its Statement of Preliminary Views a month ago. The competition regulator now has until July to hand down its determination.