Rotorua's National Bank is to become an ANZ branch.
No frontline staff at the Fenton St bank will lose their jobs so customers will be able to continue dealing with the same people, an ANZ National Bank spokesman has confirmed.
That will leave Rotorua with two ANZ branches - theexisting one is on the corner of Hinemoa and Amohia Sts but is scheduled to relocate to the Central Mall next autumn.
The Taupo and Whakatane National banks will also be rebranded as ANZ but will otherwise be "business as usual", the spokesman said.
ANZ National this week announced that after almost ten years of operating both ANZ and The National Bank in New Zealand, the two brands would be brought together as ANZ.
Chief Executive David Hisco said The National Bank brand would progressively be phased out over about two years from around the end of October. No dates have been announced for the rebrand in Rotorua, Taupo and Whakatane.
"ANZ bought The National Bank in 2003 and after almost ten years of reducing duplication, the next logical step is to combine them into one," Mr Hisco said.
"At the moment we have about 300 branches nationwide and over the next two years as we combine some of our adjacent branches, we'll end up with about 280 full-service branches, still the most by far of any bank.
"Over the next two years, we'll increase our branch presence from 75 per cent of where New Zealanders live to almost 90 per cent- so 15 new communities will get branches," he said.
For ANZ and National Bank branches located very close to each other, in most cases those branches will either co-locate to the larger branch or relocate to an area nearby where there is customer demand.
Cost savings at ANZ National have been made in recent years with the streamlining of head office management and processes, with more savings to come in the future from eliminating duplicated information technology costs.
Mr Hisco said The National Bank's sponsorships and community commitments would continue under the ANZ brand.
