The new unit, 1835i, is planned to operate as an individual business to deliver new digital solutions for its customers

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ANZ's head office at 833 Collins Street, in Melbourne's Docklands. (Credit: Elekhh/Wikipedia.)

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has unveiled its plans to spin out its ventures and incubator business ANZi into a separate entity, dubbed 1835i.

The new unit, 1835i, is planned to operate as a stand-alone business, to develop a portfolio of investments in line with ANZ’s strategy, and deliver new digital solutions for its customers.

Forming 1835i as an independent entity will facilitate ANZ to operate it more like a start-up and avoid the same regulatory requirements as an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution.

The bank will provide funding for 1835i’s investments and supervise its governance.

As part of the restructuring, ANZi managing director Ron Spector will be appointed to lead the new 1835i team, alongside three other partners who will assist him.

ANZi managing partner Ron Spector said: “Speed, agility and low costs are key ingredients to successful start-ups and help drive innovation. We’ve made some great progress to date and the time is right for the next stage of our development.

“This new structure will make it easier to attract dynamic start-up talent with the right skills to help us accelerate the next stages of development.”

ANZ said the name 1835i commemorates its nearly 200 years of history, where The Bank of Australasia was established in the year 1835, in London under Royal Charter.

ANZ said that its innovation and investment arm ANZi has been working with new businesses to create products and services that benefit the customers and shareholders.

The unit has launched three new companies, including the digital home loan distribution platform OneTwo Finance, theOneSpot and Propps, in the three years since it was formed.

ANZi has invested about $275m to date and holds eight investments in companies, including foreign exchange provider Airwallex and the digital home loan platform The Lendi Group.

ANZ Group digital banking executive Maile Carnegie said: “This team have delivered some important innovations since we established ANZi.

“Through 1835i, the team will be able to accelerate development and testing of digital solutions that ANZ can adopt quickly to deliver great customer experiences at lower costs.

“The 1835i team will remain an important part of ANZ’s ecosystem and our focus on making ANZ a simpler, better bank.”