Australian bank ANZ comes out as GAYNZ

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian bank ANZ has come out… as GAYNZ in honor of the 10th anniversary of its Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras sponsorship. In a public display of pride, the bank’s Oxford Street branch – at the heart of the Mardi Gras parade route in Darlinghurst in Sydney, Australia – has been rebranded as a GAYNZ branch.

Completely reimagined inside and out, the GAYNZ branch is a baroque-inspired celebration of LGBTI culture. It features two new GAYTMs, ornate walls, a marbled floor and 16 unique, hand-painted murals inspired by the LGBTI community.

Chair of ANZ’s Australia Division Diversity Council Mark Hand said: “Diversity, inclusion and respect is an important part of what we do at ANZ so we are particularly proud of our partnership with Mardi Gras which started because our staff passionately believed in supporting the cause 10 years ago.

“Over the past few years we have had an incredible response to our GAYTMs, so it was only natural to take things to a new level to celebrate the milestone. GAYNZ is often used to describe us at Mardi Gras and we thought transforming the Oxford Street branch and naming it GAYNZ was a fitting way to demonstrate our continued support for the LGBTI community.”

In a first for an Australian brand and a bank worldwide, ANZ is collaborating with Twitter to develop a rainbow coloured flag emoji, which will appear whenever #GAYNZ is used on the social media platform.
This year ANZ will have more people than ever participating in the Mardi Gras Parade with 230 staff, family and friends set to march.

Four GAYTMs have also been returned to the George Street and Pitt Street branches. ATM operator fees for non-ANZ cardholders from GAYTMs will once again be donated to Twenty10, a not-for-profit organisation working with and supporting people of diverse genders, sexes and sexualities, their families and communities.

For more information and live updates on the GAYNZ branch follow @ANZ_AU on Twitter or visit facebook.com/ANZAustralia.