It was announced this afternoon that after operating for 10 years as two, the brands will become one – ANZ New Zealand Ltd, starting in October. The process will take two years.

Staff were told at a series of meetings across the country.

ANZ National Bank CEO David Hisco said lending policies had been the same for the two banks for the last few years, “exactly the same scorecard is used across both brands”.

Mortgage adviser John Peterson agreed the criteria had been the same for some time and brokers had been told the change was imminent.

Hisco said: “We have been working hard to have both working at the same level so people don’t feel the change. There shouldn’t be too much to worry about except the staff will be wearing a different colour shirt.”

He said the two brands were responsible for one in three home loans issued to New Zealanders. ANZ Bank accounted for $1.09 billion of the June quarter's growth, a record for any New Zealand bank.

ANZ and National Bank have 300 branches across the country. Hisco said that would drop to 280 but there would be 15 new communities served.

Fulltime staff who lost their jobs would be given the opportunity to apply for others although 200 technology contractors would be out of work at the end of their contracts.

National Bank customers will not have to do anything in the transition, Hisco said.  ANZ would adopt National Bank's internet banking model and cards would remain the same until they expired.

The licence for National Bank's black horse branding was due to be handed back to Britain’s TSB in 2014.