financial services investment services founded 5 june 1847 as auckland savings bank ; 169 years ago headquarters auckland new zealand area served new zealand key people barbara chapman ceo products finance and insurance consumer banking corporate banking investment banking investment management mortgages credit cards revenue nz 1.607 billion 2011 1 total assets nz 63.5 billion 2012 2 number of employees 4907 parent commonwealth bank subsidiaries sovereign limited bankdirect website www.asb.co.nz a branch in ponsonby auckland city . asb bank commonly stylised as asb is a bank owned by commonwealth bank of australia operating in new zealand . it provides a variety of financial services including retail business and rural banking funds management as well as insurance through its sovereign arm and investment and securities services through its asb group investments and asb securities arms . asb also operates bankdirect a branchless banking service that provides service via phone internet eftpos and atms only . contents 1 history 2 branding 3 innovation 4 advertising and sponsorship 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit asb began in 1847 as the auckland savings bank . the first meeting was held in the store of campbell and brown and was attended by logan campbell dr john johnson rev thomas buddle john jermyn symonds john macdougall david graham a brother of robert graham robert appleyard fitzgerald 3 thomas forsaith john israel montefiore james dilworth alexander kennedy and william smellie graham . 4 during the 1980s the association of savings banks amalgamated the local savings banks throughout new zealand with asb at their head and adopted the name asb trust bank . in 1986 asb withdrew from the trust bank and in 1987 became a full fledged commercial bank under the name asb bank . in 1988 the government passed the trustee banks restructuring act which enabled asb to become a public company . in 1989 the owner of the bank asb community trust sold 75 % of the shares to commonwealth bank . in 1994 asb purchased and amalgamated westland bank another former savings bank located on the south island s west coast which enabled it to operate on a truly national basis . in 1999 asb group acquired sovereign limited a life insurance company and the retail stockbroking and fixed income operations of warburg dillon read . in 2000 commonwealth bank bought the remaining 25 % of asb s shares from the trust . in 2005 the bank changed the asb bank brand to asb to reflect the more integrated financial services provider that it had become . branding edit asb has had a long and successful relationship with auckland branding design studio sanders design . 5 sanders design have been instrumental in the evolution of the branding over the last 30 years including the current iteration of the brand . 6 sanders design heave created a comprehensive signage manual which has been translated throughout the branches nationwide . 7 in 2013 sanders design also designed the signage and way finding for the new head office asb north wharf . this was a finalist in the environmental graphics category in the nz best design awards 8 innovation edit asb has a reputation for innovation and embracing new technologies . the bank has won numerous awards including netguide award for best financial services site in 2006 and 2007 tuanz innovation award for financial service in 2001 2002 2003 and 2005 and recently canstar s inaugural annual best online banking award in 2012 . 9 asb launched pago in november 2006 which is an electronic payment service that allows anyone with a new zealand bank account to send cleared funds via mobile phone or the internet to another person or participating retailer in real time . 10 the technology has not succeeded in the way asb hoped with very little use and virtually no significant updates since 2010 . the bank has found significant success by being the first to introduce innovative services and features to the new zealand market . asb was the first bank in new zealand to offer internet banking fastnet classic in 1997 branches open seven days a week 1998 online share trading on both the australian and new zealand share markets via asb securities in 1999 banking via mobile phones asb mobile in 1999 the ability for customers to stop receiving their paper statements 2003 banking via pdas and browser based mobile banking 2006 automatic rounding of transactions where the difference is put into a savings account save the change in 2010 facebook friend payments via asb mobile ios android and windows phone apps 2012 a dedicated real estate app for ios asb property guide in 2012 advertising and sponsorship edit previous asb logo previous asb logo previous asb logo asb has become known for using well known characters in its advertising . the bank had a series of highly successful award winning commercials with the ira goldstein character played by american actor steve mellor a bumbling american banker sent to new zealand to find out what makes that bank different . the ads were popular over an 11 year period . however the campaign ended in 2010 as the bank moved to a new advertising agency from tbwa whybin . 11 in october 2011 the bank introduced the experience asb campaign with new advertising agency droga5 . the campaign featured voice overs by english actor dame judi dench and allowed potential customers to test drive the bank before joining . 12 in july 2012 asb left droga5 for saatchi & saatchi . 13 in february 2013 asb launched a new advertising campaign featuring brian blessed playing a fictionalised version of himself encouraging new zealanders to be proud of their achievements whether big or small . 14 the bank also supports the asb community trust which was formed in 1988 with an endowment from the sale of asb to australia s commonwealth bank . the trust has distributed more than 745 million since 1988 mostly giving grants to the arts sport recreation environment heritage health and social services areas as well as funding capital projects in local communities around new zealand . 15 asb is the corporate sponsor for a number of high profile new zealand organisations and events such as coastguard new zealand st john new zealand starship foundation new zealand football including the asb premiership asb chatham cup asb national woman s league asb woman s knockout cup and the asb national youth league . tennis including the asb classic auckland tennis canterbury tennis and tennis south canterbury . 16 asb gardens magic a series of summer concerts held in wellington . asb classical sparks an annual concert in christchurch s hagley park which attracts an audience of over 120 000 . asb polyfest a four day event in auckland featuring over 9 000 student performers celebrating the culture of the pacific and attracting an audience of over 90 000 . 17 the bank is also a major sponsor of several event venues in new zealand asb showgrounds 18 asb stadium asb tennis centre asb stand and asb lounge at eden park founding sponsor of north harbour stadium asb foyer at the telstraclear pacific events centre asb theatre at aotea centre asb atrium and asb careers centre at the university of auckland s owen g. glenn building home of the university s business school . see also edit list of banks list of banks in new zealand sovereign commonwealth bank asb classic asb premiership references edit asb annual report 2011 pdf . asb.co.nz . retrieved 2012 07 27 . asb sustainability report 2012 pdf . asb.co.nz . retrieved 2012 12 24 . scholefield guy ed . 1940 . a dictionary of new zealand biography a l pdf . i. wellington department of internal affairs . p. 259 . retrieved 26 january 2014 . reed a. w. 1955 . auckland the city of the seas . wellington a.h. & a.w. reed . p. 80 . sanders design . sandersdesign.co.nz . retrieved 2016 04 07 . asb identity . sandersdesign.co.nz . retrieved 2016 04 07 . asb branch signage . sandersdesign.co.nz . retrieved 2016 04 07 . sanders design . asb north wharf . best awards . retrieved 2016 04 07 . asb wins best online bank award . stuff.co.nz . retrieved 2012 07 31 . about pago . pago.co.nz . retrieved 2012 07 31 . asb farewells goldstein as 11 year ad campaign ends . the new zealand herald . 2010 09 21 . retrieved 2012 07 30 . dame judi dench stars in new fully integrated experience asb campaign via droga5 . campaignbrief.co.nz . retrieved 2013 02 20 . shock for droga5 in nz as founding client asb makes switch to saatchi & saatchi new zealand . campaignbrief.co.nz . retrieved 2013 02 20 . who is brian blessed . blog.asb.co.nz . retrieved 2013 02 20 . about asb community trust . asbcommunitytrust.org.nz . retrieved 2012 07 30 . asb bank sports sponsorship . retrieved 2012 07 30 . asb bank arts . asb.co.nz . retrieved 2012 07 30 . asb showgrounds external links edit asb asb securities bankdirect sovereign asb community trust pago v t e commonwealth bank brands commonwealth bank bankwest asb sovereign limited commonwealth securities colonial first state comminsure notable people david j turner chairman ian narev ceo craig james commsec economist v t e banks of new zealand current banks anz asb bankdirect bank of new zealand the co operative bank heartland bank hsbc kiwibank rabobank rabodirect sbs bank tsb bank westpac italics in the above indicate domestic ownership former banks nationwide service post office savings bank trust bank countrywide bank national bank regional trustee banks bay of plenty savings bank canterbury savings bank eastern & central savings bank otago savings bank south canterbury savings bank southland savings bank waikato savings bank wanganui savings bank wellington savings bank westland savings bank retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title asb bank & oldid 744408434 categories companies based in aucklandbanks established in 1847banks of new zealand1847 establishments in new zealandhidden categories use dmy dates from september 2015use new zealand 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