How an ANZ business banking specialist can support your business

There is a lot to think about when running a business. So it’s important to have a bank that supports you on your journey to success. We speak to Tracy, one of our business banking specialists, to find out exactly how our business bankers can help and support you.

I am a Senior Manager for Business and Agri, based in Christchurch and I have been working at ANZ for 14 years. I run a team of Relationship Managers and Associates who specifically look after small business customers. 

Our main goal is to make banking easy for our business customers every day, as well as give them expert insights and advice to help them grow their business. We also have a range of different sector specialists within our team, and I make sure we connect our customers with the best person for each business. This is important because we know that the needs of a food and beverage business will be totally different to a healthcare business, for example, and we make sure your business banking specialist is right for you and your business.  

As an ANZ small business customer, we have experienced Business Managers to look after your banking needs. Plus, your Business Manager is also supported by a Business Specialist Contact Centre team. This means that, as a customer, you have multiple channels you can use to interact with us, so you can receive the support you need at a time that suits you.

I think some of the best products and services we offer for small businesses are our various digital banking tools. Here are a few that I think are most helpful:

• ANZ goMoney app for businesses – access your business and personal accounts, all in one place on the app, through your mobile phone or device.  
• ANZ Internet Banking for businesses – a fast and secure way to manage your money online, and you can link your business and personal accounts so you can see all your balances in one place. 
• ANZ Direct Online, which is specifically designed for businesses and allows multiple users and multiple transactions.  
• ANZ FastPay, which is a mobile payment solution that allows you to accept EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard payments on the go. 
• ANZ GoBiz – apply online for a business overdraft or loan through a seamless digital application platform.

Plus, we also have some exclusive third party offers on innovative tools to help you with things like payroll, cash management or to help with connecting your bank records with your online accounting software. 

We get a lot of questions specific to individual businesses of course, but there are two questions that we do get asked a lot, so I’ll try to answer them here.

How do I keep up with my GST and tax bills?

Have a separate account to hold GST funds so it’s not mixed in with your normal cash flow – that way the funds will be ready whenever GST is due. 

For income tax, my advice is to work closely with your accountant to ensure you understand your tax obligations and when they are due. It’s important to know that income tax is usually paid the following year. So, for example, FY1 (your first financial year of being in business) income tax is paid when FY1 financials are completed, which is usually in FY2 before 31 March, and many startup business owners get caught out as they didn’t need to pay this bill in FY1, and they may not be expecting it. 

I don’t have enough money in my account to pay for our payroll tomorrow as some of my customers haven’t paid my invoices, what do I do?

We need to understand the situation with the overdue invoices, how much they total and when you expect customers to pay them. If we have comfort from this, we can look to provide a temporary overdraft so payroll can be made. 

We would also have a discussion with you to see if we feel there is a need for on-going cash flow facilities to avoid situations like this happening again in the future, and if so, we can look to provide permanent facilities like an overdraft.

Yes I have two that come to mind specifically which I’m very proud about.

The customers were a husband and wife who came to New Zealand on an Entrepreneur Visa category, purchased a motel and were working towards gaining a Permanent Residency status. I was able to provide all banking products and services to help them run the business, including getting them well protected with insurance in the Personal and Business space through our Protect partners Gallagher and Chubb. 

Over the years, they achieved New Zealand resident status and I continued to support their plans to grow the occupancy rate of their motel by providing the right solutions to suit their needs such as working capital needs, lending for renovation, etc. 

Not only did I work with these customers to help them run a successful motel business, but I also got to see and be with them when they received their New Zealand residency. And now, they continue to grow their business which is not only supporting themselves, but two new additions to the family as well! It’s been lovely to be able to be part of these customers’ business and personal journey. 

I worked with the customer to purchase his first café – a franchise business. As this was the customer’s first time owning his own business, I made sure I was available to answer any questions he had. 

I connected him with another experienced café owner, who is also one of my customers and who owns three cafés. He became a mentor to him and helped him with things like staffing challenges and marketing. 

I worked closely with him on his goal to open his second café, working out a saving plan as well as a budgeting plan. After a couple of years, he built up the business, made some good profits and saved up for his second café. I was then able to support him through lending for the second café, and it has been great to be able to be part of his success story and follow his business journey along.