ANZ queried on $1 million loan limit
ANZ was pressed on its 'arbitrary' AUD 1m ($744,000) loan limit on the opening day of the small business banking inquiry. Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell asked ANZ Deputy CEO Graham Hodges why the bank had settled on that "pretty low" figure. Hodges responded that the figure was sufficient for many firms and that it meant the bank could use more measures which "would require a larger business to do in terms of their financial reporting".
Kate Carnell launched the first day of the small business banking inquiry by asking the ANZ why they cut off small business loans at the arbitrary figure of $1 million.

​"What made you – the bank – decide that $1 million was the right figure for small business? It's a pretty low figure now. I think in the EU and other places it's now acknowledged that that is too low," she asked of Graham Hodges, deputy chief executive.

Mr Hodges and small business general manager Kate Gibson were the first in line at the small business inquiry into the four major banks, which was announced following pressure on the federal government to call for a royal commission.

The question from Ms Carnell, a former business who was this year appointed as Australia's first small business and family enterprise ombudsman, also noted that a majority of bricks and mortar businesses, for example a pharmacy or a restaurant, could not be purchased for less than $1 million.