$1.10 for each Bonus Bond to all local and international bondholders who had provided their bank account details, before Christmas. Accordingly, last week, ANZ managed to make good on its promise, paying the remaining $680 million owed to investors whose money has been locked up in the shuttered fund for more than a year.
“We’re really pleased to have made the initial payment to bondholders in time for the lead up to Christmas,” Ben Kelleher, ANZ managing director for personal banking, said. “We have now processed around 80 per cent of the remaining Bonus Bonds funds. However, around 800,000 people are still to contact us with their details, so we can redeem their bonds.”
He noted that while about 75 per cent of the remaining investors have $50 or less invested in the fund, many of they may not even be aware that they own Bonus Bonds. On the other hand, some bondholders decided that they did not need their money back and therefore decided to donate it to the Cancer Society, which received over $230,000 as a result.
According to a spokeswoman for ANZ, the delay in settling the payments were caused by several technical challenges and was not a result of any difficulties in selling the bonds and bank deposits it invested in. “Making payments has required significant changes to the Bonus Bonds technology systems. This has taken some time as it’s important that it was done right,” she said.
