[8] In 1837, Union Bank of Australia was established in London by a group of people including banker George Fife Angas.

In 1990, this included National Mutual Royal Bank in March[17] and the Town and Country Building Society in Western Australia in July.

[21] They also opened new branches in Hanoi, Vietnam,[22] and Shanghai, China,[23] and began a joint venture with PT Panin Bank in Indonesia.

Throughout the late 1990s, ANZ opened new branches in several locations, including Manila, Philippines,[25] and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

[31] In 2001, ANZ opened branches in Timor Leste[32] and began offering credit card services in Hong Kong.

[33] In 2002, ANZ formed a joint venture with ING Group for wealth management and life insurance business in Australia and New Zealand.

[40][41] Also in 2007, Mike Smith, formerly of HSBC, became CEO after the retirement of John McFarlane in October[42] and the company took over the naming rights sponsorship for Sydney's Stadium Australia.

[53][54] In 2018, the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry heard that ANZ had failed to accurately verify the living expenses of home loan customers referred to the bank by mortgage brokers, believing that this was the responsibility of the brokers, in spite of a conflict of interest in doing so;[55]: 465–469 [56] and that, due to processing issues, it had charged nearly 500,000 home loan customers the incorrect interest rate for more than ten years, leading the bank to overcharge customers by approximately $90 million.

[67] In December 2021, ANZ pled guilty in a case filed by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission to breaching its obligations as a financial services and credit licensee provider, and not fully disbursing benefits to 500,000 customers.

[70] In April 2022, ANZ was involved in a joint venture with Scentre Group, Westpac, IBM and the Commonwealth Bank named Lygon, a blockchain startup.

[73] On 20 February 2024, the Australian Competition Tribunal overturned the decision by the ACCC, paving the way for ANZ to acquire Suncorp Bank.

As part of the strategic alliance, ANZ will provide technical assistance in the areas of risk management and retail and small business banking.

ANZ has followed a similar strategy in China, where it acquired a 20% share in Tianjin City Commercial Bank in July 2006.

The complex features a vast low rise office building, shops, car and bicycle parking facilities.

The building, located at 833 Collins Street, is the largest office complex in Australia at 84,500 square metres (910,000 sq ft) net lettable area, with 130,000 square metres (1,400,000 sq ft) gross floor area, and an accredited Six-Green Star Building.

Its current logo was designed by M&C Saatchi, and was introduced in 2009 to coincide with ANZ's ambition to be a major regional bank in the Asia Pacific.

[144] The 2009 logo introduces a stylised three-petaled lotus which represents the trinity of Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific, the three core markets of ANZ.

[157] In a separate court appearance in November 2016 ANZ admitted to 10 instances of attempted cartel conduct regarding alleged manipulation of the Malaysian ringgit.

[160][161] In 2014, ANZ faced allegations that it funded a Cambodian sugar plantation that has involved child labour, military-backed land grabs, forced evictions and food shortages.

[167] Another former customer in the Senate inquiry was mentioned as being subjected to victimisation by receivers and police, including use of SWAT teams and being held at gun-point.

[172] In 2016, ANZ was pursued in court over its suggesting on social media that criticism of the bank's chief financial officer might have been sexist, which resulted in the broker at Bell Potter losing his job.

[175] In November 2016, there were further claims of sexist conduct and a separate lawsuit was filed against ANZ in the United States regarding staff at its New York office.

[180] In 2016, there was an incident reported involving the Financial Ombudsman Service (Australia), where the Financial Ombudsman Service presented misleading file notes to the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the discovery phase of a case involving ANZ, to the benefit of ANZ's case.

The ANZ and others were investigated by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and cleared of colluding with other banks on the issue of Bitcoin based business.

[188] In September 2020, ANZ was accused of discrimination by Australian cryptocurrency exchanger Allan Flynn before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The dispute is the first human rights action brought by a Bitcoin trader against a bank alleging discrimination on the basis of Flynn's "profession, trade, occupation, or calling" in violation of the Australian Capital Territory's anti-discrimination legislation.

[193] ANZ was reported as appearing in 7,548 of the Mossack Fonseca documents in the Panama Papers, reflecting the bank's extensive work in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Jersey.

[194] On 1 June 2018, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that criminal cartel charges are expected to be laid by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) against ANZ Bank, its Group Treasurer Rick Moscati, along with Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and a number of individuals.

[199] A subsequent parliamentary inquiry recommended a royal commission, noting the lack of regulatory intervention by the relevant government authorities,[200] and later revelations that financial institutions were involved in money laundering for drug syndicates, turned a blind eye to terrorism financing, and ignored statutory reporting responsibilities[201] and impropriety in foreign exchange trading.

[202] ANZ was also implicated in the bank bill swap rate scandal[203] and settled with ASIC prior to the commencement of legal proceedings.