ANZ is putting Banker Academy graduates onto the frontline

Frontline relationship banking does not scale on hiring alone. It scales when people already inside the organisation get the judgement, commercial sense and confidence to sit across from a customer and own the relationship. That is the bet behind ANZ's Business and Private Bank Banker Academy.

The first 20 graduates have been appointed to Associate Relationship Manager roles. They were selected from high-performing employees already at ANZ, and they completed an intensive four-week residential with Melbourne Business School. The programme sits inside a broader plan to strengthen Business and Private Bank, including increasing banker numbers by up to 50 per cent by 2030. Academy programs will be significantly scaled up across 2027, covering entry-level roles through to senior relationship management. The next intake is expected before the end of 2026 and will focus on an entry-level cohort.

Tammy Medard, Group Executive Business and Private Bank, framed the investment around growth and customer experience: "We have ambitious growth plans for Business & Private Bank and a key part of that is investing in exceptional bankers who will deliver an outstanding customer experience." She added that the academy helps attract, develop and accelerate talent so people have the skills, judgement and confidence to understand each customer's needs and build trusted relationships. Marc Eassey, an Assistant Manager and one of the first graduates, said the programme gave him confidence, practical skills and commercial understanding, and that working through real customer scenarios deepened his sense of the opportunities and challenges businesses face.

ANZ has been a founding member of Melbourne Business School since 1987. Professor Jenny George, Dean of Melbourne Business School, said the academy brings together the school's expertise in applied learning with ANZ's understanding of relationship banking and customer needs. Business and Private Bank serves around 700,000 small-to-medium business, corporate, specialised industry and high-net-worth customers. Building that book of work well is a customer experience problem as much as a headcount one. That is why our Customer Experience workshop starts from a live journey, the rule that shapes it and the person who can change that rule.

The open question is whether the residential sticks once graduates are on the desk. Titles and cohort size are easy to announce. The test is whether Associate Relationship Managers keep using the judgement and commercial understanding the academy claims to build when the next real customer scenario lands.

Sources:

• ANZ newsroom, 2 November 2026: ANZ strengthens frontline business banking workforce with first Banker Academy graduates