ANZ will spend around NZ$117 million on its project to jettison the core banking system of the ANZ bank brand in New Zealand and to move to the Systematics platform used by National Bank of New Zealand. ANZ has operated two bank brands on two distinct technology platforms since buying NBNZ from Lloyds Bank at the end of 2003. Late last year it said it would shift to the NBNZ system. The bank has now put a figure on the cost of doing so. This is NZ$107 million of the costs ANZ expensed in the March 2011 half, with the balance to be expensed in the second half. ANZ's managing director, Mike Smith, took the opportunity of yesterday's investor presentation to preview three IT themes from a more detailed briefing planned for next month to explain the bank's technology strategy. Given ANZ's divergent strategy from the other three major banks in Australia, Smith said that as an Asian regional bank, "this means we face very different issues to our domestic peers. And it needs a very different technology emphasis, one that [can] deliver connectivity so that we can improve the customer experience and capture greater value from cross-border flows."  "This is going to mean a significant change in the way priorities are set and projects are delivered," Smith said. He mentioned three themes: "building a single super-regional customer view"; "building a truly global payments and transaction capability", and "establishing what my colleagues in technology call a 'reference architecture', which employs a mix of global and local systems." Anticipating analyst criticism, Smith said, "This isn't a Big Bang approach; it's a One Bank approach.   "We have a very clear vision and so every investment we make is focused on delivering our business strategy, it's not just a series of projects." ANZ has set a tentative date for the IT briefing of June 8.