ANZ has trouble with its sums

Thursday, 3 May 2001, 4:41 pm
Press Release: Finsec

Thursday, May 03, 2001 Finsec Media Release

3 May 2001

For immediate release

"ANZ is closing two branches in Lower Hutt and replacing them with one," said Geraldine Molloy of Finsec. "And yet their media release on May Day says that they have opened a new branch there.

"Is this a joke?

"The five ANZ staff whose positions have disappeared in Lower Hutt don't think so. And those who are left are going to find it even harder to give good customer service as ANZ's staffing levels are already dangerously low, relief staff are almost non-existent and customer queues are long.

"As the KPMG Financial Institutions Performance Survey 2001 points out, the only thing that differentiates banks from each other these days is customer service. ANZ can't close a branch and pretend they care about customers. Many customers will see this as an unwelcome attempt to push them onto telephone or internet banking.

"The global head of the ANZ Banking Group, Mr John McFarlane has recently spoken about the need for banks to acknowledge and live up to their social responsibilities to the community. Is cynical spin-doctoring of the facts what he had in mind?" Ms Molloy asked.

Ends

Contact: Jan Farr, 04 801 2004, 021 525 588

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