Suncorp sensitive to Bendigo

Ian Rogers

Suncorp Group displays great sensitivity and perhaps extreme anxiety around the notion that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank might make a credible alternative buyer (to ANZ) of Suncorp Bank.
 
In a response on Friday to the ACCC’s Preliminary Statement of Views on the proposed ANZ-Suncorp Bank transaction, Suncorp devotes material effort to analysing, and rubbishing, Bendigo’s own recent submission on this topic.
 
ANZ, almost a year ago, offered A$4.9 billion to acquire Suncorp Bank and the ACCC’s final ruling on authorisation for this merger is due in six weeks.
 
“There is no reasonable likelihood of an acquisition by Bendigo of Suncorp Bank,” Suncorp asserted to the ACCC.
 
‘The combination of Bendigo’s and Suncorp Bank’s customer bases do not give rise to any meaningful scale,” Suncorp said.
 
“Such a combination would not lead to Bendigo being a more effective competitor.”
 
In a witness statement from Adam Bennett, Suncorp’s chief information officer, the veteran banker explores at great length the complexities in the technology stacks of the two banks and the difficulties and timeframes faced by each in retiring legacy systems.
 
“I consider that, from the perspective of technology issues, an acquisition by Bendigo of Suncorp Bank is likely to involve significant complexity, take a long time to implement, and is unlikely to lead to the merged bank having a technology platform that is at the leading edge,” Bennett said.