Chairman's Address - ANZ 2007 Annual General Meeting
Good morning. My name is Charles Goode.
Welcome to the 2007 Annual General Meeting of ANZ. Let me also welcome shareholders joining us through our webcast on anz.com.
On behalf of all your directors, let me say how pleased we are to be in Perth again.
We first opened for business in Western Australia in 1841 … 166 years ago. The Bank was then called the Bank of Australasia. It opened in Perth just four years after the opening of our first branch in Australia in Melbourne.
Today, we have more than 31,000 shareholders, 1,400 staff and 84 branches spread throughout the state.
In the last two years, we have opened 15 new branches in Western Australia. In February we will be opening another new branch in Wanneroo. Of our 84 branches, 15 are open for service on Saturday and we have over 300 ATMs, the largest ATM network in the state.
Now turning to today's meeting:
As a quorum is present I now formally declare this Annual General Meeting of shareholders open.
I propose to take the Notice of Meeting as read. If you need a copy of the Notice, please ask one of the attendants. Minutes and copies of the annual report are available in the registration area.
At our meeting today ANZ’s new Chief Executive Officer Michael Smith and I will report on ANZ’s performance and the priorities for the period ahead.
I will later open the floor for questions or comments on any matter related to our business.
After the questions we will move to discussion on the formal items of business before us.
At the end of the Meeting, the Directors and many of our senior management would like to meet with shareholders and talk about ANZ over a cup of tea or coffee in the foyer.
Now let me introduce your Directors.
On your far left is Jerry Ellis. Jerry lives in Melbourne. He is a member of the Audit Committee and the Technology Committee.
Then Ian Macfarlane. Ian joined the Board in February 2007. He lives in Sydney and is Chairman of the Governance Committee and a member of the Risk Committee and the Technology Committee.