Goodbye National Bank

Stuff reports:

ANZ National Bank has confirmed it will drop the National Bank, with the brand to be gradually phased out over the next two years.

Staff were told of the change at co-ordinated meetings this afternoon.

About 20 branches will be closed, reducing the network to about 280. The remaining National Bank branches will be rebranded at a cost of $100 million.

ANZ customers will be moved across to the National Bank computer system while customers would continue to be served by the same staff, with no job losses on the front line.

ANZ would take over all sponsorship and community commitment.

ANZ National Bank chief executive David Hisco said ANZ bought the National Bank in 2003 and after nearly 10 years of reducing duplication between the two brands “the next logical step is to combine them into one”.

When ANZ purchased National, it was a weird case of a relatively poor brand buying a strong brand. Normally it is the other way around. National Bank tended to top customer satisfaction surveys, and ANZ near the bottom.

To be fair to ANZ, I think their brand is significantly better today than it was a decade ago. However National Bank has remained a strong brand, and they may lose some customers with this move. However not a lot I suspect.

ANZ has the rights to the black horse and green colour branding of the National Bank from British Bank Lloyds TSB until 2014.

This will make it harder to play and win the driving game “Horse” where you gain one point for every horse you see and ten points for every picture of a horse.