ANZ reportedly eyeing a stake in MYOB as the business banking arms race continues

ANZ is reportedly eyeing business accounting platform MYOB, with the bank considering whether taking a stake in the accounting platform could bolster its offerings to the business community.

Citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation, The Australian Financial Review reports ANZ has engaged in talks with MYOB’s parent company, American private equity firm KKR, about obtaining a stake in the company.

KKR acquired the firm in 2018 for $2 billion.

The thought process, the AFR reports, is that bringing MYOB in-house — or at least acquiring a stake in the company — would allow ANZ to integrate its business accounts and lending products with the software.

MYOB already operates a loans and finance hub on its platform through a collaboration with invoice financer Butn and business loan marketplace Valiant.

As noted by the AFR, MYOB also recently penned a partnership with ANZ competitor Westpac, giving some of that bank’s customer base access to the accounting software suite.

However, a new deal with one of Australia’s major banks could expose MYOB’s 1 million Australian users to new, deeper banking functionality.

With rising interest rates likely to deter homebuyers from cannonballing into the market as they did in 2020 and 2021, Australia’s financial heavy hitters are hoping the business lending market will remain strong.

From that view, taking a piece of MYOB could give ANZ more firepower against its Big Four competitors.

That said, ANZ did not provide formal comment to the AFR, and the paper could not confirm if the reported discussions are ongoing.

MYOB did not respond to SmartCompany‘s request for comment.