ANZ readies for Landmark farmers complaints at royal commission

The ANZ expects the banking royal commission to probe its treatment of farmers following the Landmark acquisition during the financial crisis.

But chief executive Shayne Elliott says he is not expecting any surprises when the royal commission examines business lending during its next round of hearings, given almost every aggrieved customer has been remediated. 

ANZ's purchase of the Landmark loan book from the Australian Wheat Board in 2009 was also a key focus of the 2016 parliamentary inquiry into loan impairments.

The committee heard evidence from a handful of Landmark's customers that ANZ had engaged in deliberate impairments or defaults of performing loans, but said in its final report it was not able to conclusively determine this had occurred. 

The treatment of farmers by ANZ, and of developers by Bankwest and CBA, were the main motivation for members of the National Party to threaten to cross the floor of the Parliament late last year to initiate a royal commission into the banks. 

"We acquired it, most of the problems we had came with that acquisition. We were not resourced sufficiently, to first identify the real problems, and then to deal with them in a timely manner. We were wrong. We have said that, and we have remediated (customers)."