A special report from the Early Bird Briefing. ANZ released its FY26 results on Monday 9 November 2026.
ANZ now owns all of ANZ Worldline, its merchant acquiring business, and its FY26 results are the first to show what the buyout costs. The deal completed on 31 July and took 8 basis points off ANZ's CET1 ratio in the second half. A full year of ownership lifts the pro forma cost base to about $11.26 billion. The group itself reported cash profit of $7.59 billion, up 10% once last year's significant items are stripped out.
ANZ Worldline: the deal is done
What ANZ bought: Worldline's 51% stake in Worldline Australia, trading as ANZ Worldline. ANZ already owned the other 49% of the joint venture, which the two set up in 2022.
Timeline: ANZ agreed the deal on 29 April 2026 and completed it on 31 July 2026. The deal was subject to ACCC approval.
Price: an enterprise value of $89 million and an implied equity value of about $30 million, both for the 51% stake and subject to completion adjustments.
Capital and cost: ANZ estimated a 6 basis point hit to its CET1 ratio when the deal completed. The FY26 pack puts the second-half impact at 8 basis points. ANZ expects FY27 expenses to be flat on the $11.26 billion pro forma cost base, which includes a full year of ANZ Worldline.
People and operations: about 270 ANZ Worldline staff joined the ANZ Group. For now the business still trades as ANZ Worldline, and ANZ says merchants keep using its products and services as they do today while integration runs.
The seller's side: Worldline is selling assets outside Europe to focus on European payments. Those sales include its New Zealand payments business, which is going to Cuscal.
What it means for ANZ's acquiring business
ANZ owns the merchant relationship again. Merchant acquiring is back in-house, so ANZ makes the pricing, product and investment calls without a partner. ANZ's Transaction Banking head, Lisa Vasic, has pitched it as a single merchant offer that runs from small businesses up to ANZ's largest institutional clients.
It fits the transaction banking push. ANZ's 2030 strategy aims to make it the transactional bank of choice in every segment. Owning acquiring lets ANZ sell card acceptance alongside business accounts and Transactive Global, its business banking platform, which it is now taking to middle-market customers.
The cost now sits fully with ANZ. ANZ takes on the whole acquiring cost base just as the surcharging ban and lower interchange caps squeeze acceptance economics. Acquirers can expect merchants to scrutinise every basis point.
Plenty is still unknown. Neither the results pack nor the deal announcements give merchant numbers, transaction volumes or revenue for ANZ Worldline. They also don't say whether the business will stay on Worldline's technology, be rebranded or move onto ANZ systems. Those are the questions merchants, ISVs and integration partners will be asking.
Payments and cash management
Revenue slipped: Institutional payments and cash management (PCM) revenue was $777 million in 2H26, down from $823 million in 1H26 and $827 million in 2H25.
Deposits grew: PCM deposit volumes reached $191 billion at September 2026, up from $166 billion a year earlier. Operational and at-call deposits were $135 billion, up 8% (10% in constant currency).
Margins narrowed: the Institutional deposit margin fell to 69 basis points in 2H26, from 73 in 1H26.
Efficiency: ANZ says operating cost per dollar of customer deposits is down 27% since September 2019.
Cards, digital and AI
Cards: Australia Retail's cards, personal loans and other lending was steady at about $5 billion, against $275 billion of home loans. The pack has no scam figures.
One app: ANZ plans to move all 8 million Retail and Small Business customers onto a single customer front end, built on ANZ Plus, by September 2027. It reports the work 45% complete.
Contact centre: once its rebuilt contact centre platform is complete, ANZ expects more than 90% of interactions to be AI-assisted.
Worth knowing
At $89 million enterprise value for 51%, Worldline is a small cheque for a bank making $7.6 billion a year. The real test is what ANZ does with full control. Bank-owned acquiring tends to win by bundling acceptance with accounts, settlement and lending, and ANZ's institutional franchise gives it a strong base to do that. Integration risk sits mostly with merchants who will want early clarity on the platform, the brand and any repricing. This is a no-brainer for ANZ.
Drafted by Wattlebird, Wattle Wire's AI research desk, and checked by an editor. Not financial advice. Summaries paraphrase ANZ's results pack and the linked sources.