Melbourne, Australia – March 21, 2012 — ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees has simplified and greatly expanded client access to its team of experienced, highly respected and industry qualified wealth managers and specialists. Having recently completed a successful trial of the technology, ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees is now announcing the launch of Wealth Presence, an exceptionally life-like video meeting experience.  Wealth Presence makes it far more efficient and convenient for clients to have life-size face-to-face meetings with experts from across a wide range of disciplines, who may be located hundreds or thousands of kilometers away, yet feel as if they are sitting across the same conference table.

"Wealth Presence is another example of how ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees is taking advantage of innovative technology to differentiate and deliver unique and superior service to clients who can now virtually tap into the deep experience of our team of experts located nationwide & globally - in sites such as Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand.  As ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees places strong importance on building relationships with clients, we believe the realistic face-to-face experience Wealth Presence creates is a natural extension of this and transforms the flexibility and convenience of the client experience," said Catherine McDowell, Managing Director of ANZ Private Wealth.

Face-to-face interactions with clients, private wealth managers and specialists on more complex and abstract transactions such as portfolio planning, investment opportunities, complex banking, capital markets, personal insurance, estate planning and wealth management are easier to coordinate through these tailored on-demand video conversations. Clients, particularly those that are time-stretched, will benefit from the convenience and flexibility in scheduling Wealth Presence meetings to suit their schedules and location. 

Clients who used the service during the trial were impressed by the experience. An Adelaide based client, John Savva, says he was "blown away" by the technology. "I have always found the best way of doing business is face to face and this tool gives you the opportunity to do that with people who work in another city. As a client [Wealth Presence] certainly made me feel valued. Without doubt I would refer to the person I linked with on wealth Presence as somebody I have now met as opposed to somebody I have spoken to on the phone."

"I was impressed with the clarity of picture, sound and most of all the lack of delay in exchanging comments. A very dynamic experience for me and a great look into globalization at its best. I think it is a quality product that helps continue to set ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees above the rest of the banks for service and I would absolutely use Wealth Presence again."

Not only is it the first instance ANZ has used this type of technology to connect with its clients, ANZ is also one of the first banks globally to use life-like video meeting technology to better support private banking customers.

Wealth Presence is now available in six locations — Queensland (Brisbane), New South Wales (Sydney and Newcastle), South Australia (Adelaide), Victoria (Melbourne) and West Australia (Perth) — to ANZ Private & Trustee clients.

ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees partnered with Cisco and Singtel Optus to design and deploy the Wealth Presence service. Leveraging innovative Cisco TelePresence™ technology it allows ANZ Private to achieve the following client benefits:

• Strengthened Client Relationships.  Wealth Presence helps increase client-interface frequency and the creation of longstanding business relationships between clients, private wealth managers and specialists irrespective of geographic location.  Furthermore, by providing clients with timely access to the expertise required to make decisions regarding complex financial products, Wealth Presence plays a major role in improving customer loyalty.
• Greater Access to Experts On-Demand.  Clients cannot always receive immediate, personal onsite assistance from the specialist they require at their local private bank. ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees provides specialists virtually on site at private bank locations through Wealth Presence so they are available on demand and in person for clients. The life-size image, video clarity, and clear audio delivers the productivity benefits of "being there" for interactions with clients. At the same time, ANZ Private & ANZ Trustees no longer misses the opportunity to earn the client's business, while scaling valuable subject matter expertise.
• Aligns with Corporate Green Agenda.  With reduced travel by its wealth managers and specialists, Wealth Presence has a positive impact on ANZ's overall carbon footprint.

"With its use of high-quality video technology that makes interactions as natural as possible, ANZ Private's Wealth Presence will become an increasingly valuable asset in strengthening client relationships and improving client satisfaction. We are incredibly pleased to have collaborated with ANZ Private on new ways that technology can be utilised in its business," said Les Williamson, Vice President  of Cisco Asia Pacific Area.

Cisco TelePresence combines ultra-high definition video, spatial audio, specially designed meeting rooms and interactive elements to create an immersive, lifelike "virtual meeting" experience that realistically conveys the body language and human elements that are so critical to interactive discussions. With integration into ANZ Private's enterprise groupware application Microsoft Outlook and "one button to push" to initiate meetings, Wealth Presence meetings are easy to schedule and start so the focus remains on the meeting not the technology.

Technorati Tags: Cisco, TelePresence, video, collaboration

About ANZ Private and ANZ Trustees

ANZ Private and ANZ Trustees is a business unit of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ).

At ANZ Private and ANZ Trustees, our passion lies in helping high net worth individuals and their families enhance their wealth and enrich their lives. Our holistic tailored approach features access to services across banking (including asset financing, institutional, commercial and retail services), investment management, trust services and global markets.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.au. For ongoing news, please go to News@Cisco in Australia and New Zealand at http://newsroom.cisco.com/anz.

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