Asia-Pacific Power List 2023: Sweta Mehra, ANZ

Sweta Mehra

Chief marketing officer
ANZ
Australia
Member since 2020

ANZ’s chief marketing officer, Sweta Mehra, has picked up new quilting, sewing and embroidery skills in the last year and is pushing boundaries by mixing it all up. Stitching things together seamlessly appears to be Mehra’s forte in personal and professional set-ups.

Under her leadership, marketing has expanded well beyond communication. By ‘sewing together’ synergies of personalisation, digital sales and marketing teams into one portfolio, ANZ has delivered better customer and business outcomes. For instance, for home loans, the team automated the experience to easily transition the customers from a fixed-rate product to the proper variable product when the interest rate increased. This was proactive engagement helping customers think through their choices with digital content, with staff on standby to assist when in doubt. “Financial Ready” was a programme launched for business owners that showed them how ANZ could help. Innovative use of data and insights has resulted in robust growth across lending and deposit businesses, touching both new and existing customers.

“Financial Wellbeing”, the brand platform launched in early 2022, inviting all Australians to become “Financial Wellbeings” by making smarter choices with their money, continued to be a differentiator for and during 2022. As a result, ANZ firmly held on to its leadership position in New Zealand. In Australia, marketing played a critical role in restoring momentum in ANZ’s home loans business, with volume growing $4.6b in the second half of the financial year.

Mehra is also behind the ANZ Plus proposition launch, a new Australian retail platform focused on winning business and driving better shareholder results. The early indications are promising, with solid deposit growth and positive customer ratings, particularly new customers. Backed by an aggressive campaign, “Go next level”, the deposits (~$4b) and customers (~200k) are growing at a faster rate than any digital banking proposition ever launched in Australia.

ANZ New Zealand linked its financial well-being brand purpose to sustainability this year. The ANZ Good Energy Home Loan offered an affordable way for Kiwis to finance energy efficiency upgrades through a home loan top-up, with a super low-interest rate of 1% p.a., fixed for three years. The product was launched in July 2022, and just 19 weeks later, it celebrated a key milestone - more than $100 million in Good Energy Home Loans provided to 2,500 Kiwi households.