ANZ Banking Group is continuing to build out a “one-stop-shop” to service the data needs of its risk function and about 2000 personnel.
ANZ’s Artur Kaluza, fourth from left, at Google Cloud Next 2025.
The data transformation program was first flagged at a Google Cloud Next conference in 2021.
Additional details of the Google Cloud-based platform emerged in 2023, including that it would utilise BigQuery in its architecture, and that use cases for risk data included credit decisioning and risk comprehension.
Speaking at Google Cloud Next 2025 in Las Vegas last week, head of data strategy and transformation within ANZ’s Risk function, Artur Kaluza, shared that three Google Cloud services are being used – Dataplex, BigQuery and Vertex AI Platform.
According to Google Cloud’s technical documentation, Dataplex is “an intelligent data fabric that unifies distributed data and automates data management and governance.”
“We, at ANZ in Risk, have banked on Dataplex being at the core of our data management needs,” Kaluza said.
“I’m always excited about new features in this space.
“We use pretty much the entire suite of [Dataplex services]. We’re using it heavily for data quality, monitoring and for lineage as well – pretty much the majority of the features that are available there.”
Beyond the Google Cloud components in use, the precise architecture of the platform was not detailed.
Kaluza said that the work – which he characterised as a “flagship data transformation program in ANZ Risk” – ties back to three business objectives: to enable faster speed-to-insight; to increase productivity by reducing time spent on “data wrangling”, so that more time can be spent on analytics and modelling; and to “drive simplification of the technology landscape”.
ANZ has previously discussed its simplification goals, including plans to run fewer systems and to consolidate data from those systems in one location.
One of the main shifts to occur since ANZ last spoke publicly about the transformation program is the rise of enterprise and generative AI.
Kaluza said that AI had put a spotlight firmly on data quality, management and governance inside the bank.
“Data will feed AI,” he said. “Getting it right will lead to success, getting it wrong will amplify the risk that we have been experiencing from data.”
Kaluza said the bank wanted to make it easy for Risk personnel to interact with data that is discoverable, accessible, trusted, of high quality and fit-for-purpose.
“Recently, we have invested heavily into data quality management,” Kaluza said.
“This has been something that’s very difficult to achieve at the bank. By using features [in Google Cloud], it has generated a lot of excitement not just in Risk but across the bank.”
Efforts are also being made to ensure data governance through the platform is “as automated as it can be”.
Ry Crozier attended Google Cloud Next 2025 in Las Vegas as a guest of Google Cloud.