Table of Contents
Executive Summary
ANZ Bank is the largest bank in New Zealand, and the fourth largest in Australia. Innovation has always been part of ANZ’s DNA, and bringing Python and data science skills to its analysts was a strategic priority for the bank. Edlitera was selected to design and deliver a customized training program for the New York City group of ANZ Bank. Edlitera designed a data analysis training curriculum using Python, which incorporated ANZ Bank’s own data and processes. By the end of the training, the participants had written Python scripts to automate several internal workflows, significantly reducing the amount of error-prone manual work involved in these recurrent tasks.
"The projects were especially well delivered and were a highlight for the group. The ability to use real work projects and implement the learnings after the training session was something that really stood out. The energy Claudia and Ciprian brought to the entire collaboration showed how much genuine passion they have for delivering results and providing the best possible learning experience."
- Marino Vedanayagam, VP, Risk and Assurance, USA, ANZ Bank
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Situation
The financial analyses and reports that ANZ Bank routinely produces have been increasing in complexity, and the datasets used have been growing steadily as well. Excel’s limitations as a tool for these routine and complex data analysis workflows have become a growing issue. The team recognized that using Python for these analyses and reports could significantly increase efficiency and make maintainability easier as well. In order to move the team’s Python skills ahead of the curve as fast and uniformly as possible, ANZ Bank decided to engage expert instructors to design and teach a tailored program in Python for financial analysis.
"ANZ partnered with Edlitera for Python training after being impressed with the value proposition of their teaching methods and approach to learning. Claudia and Ciprian took a lot of care to ensure the training was tailored specifically to ANZ’s needs. What was most impressive was the energy and passion they brought to their work, to ensure we had the best possible experience. The ANZ staff who participated in the training session had various levels of coding skills. But Edlitera made sure that the training was just right to cater for everyone there."
- Philip Barr, Head of Technology, USA, ANZ Bank
Solution
Edlitera taught a two-day Python for Financial Analysis training at ANZ Bank’s New York City offices. The training was customized to ANZ’s needs and context. It covered data cleaning and analysis techniques relevant to the data they encountered most frequently. It also covered producing Python scripts and analyses that interact with Excel, and identifying tasks that could be made more efficient with Python. The first part of the training was an equal mix of theoretical concepts and hands-on practice problems to solidify the knowledge.
ANZ Bank identified three distinct groups within the NY office that would most benefit from training. Each of the groups selected one workflow that they wanted to automate during the training. These workflows were primarily built in Excel and involved various degrees of manual work. In the second part of the training, Edlitera broke these workflows down into steps, and the training participants used these steps to recreate each process using Python.
Each project that participants worked on used the bank’s actual data, providing hands-on experience writing Python code that was immediately relevant and applicable to the team’s day-to-day work. An Edlitera instructor guided the coding session, answering questions, offering tips about best practices, and helping participants when they got stuck.
Outcome
From the beginning, Edlitera worked closely with ANZ Bank to ensure that the training is aligned with business priorities, and highly relevant to trainees’ day-to-day work. Participants’ feedback for the training rated it as outstanding and highly valuable to the their day-to-day roles and to increasing the efficiency of the bank’s routine operations.
Next Steps
After the training, the participants have immediately started applying what their learned in this training in their day to day job. One team used the project code they worked on during the training to automate a previously manual process, freeing up time for other valuable projects. Furthermore, ANZ NY started a Python Case Team, tasked with working on future projects to help with process improvements, project management and automation at the bank.
What Did You Find the Most Useful in This Course?
“The course outline and instructor were precise and direct in teaching Python - no time was wasted.” - Anonymous participant, ANZ Bank, NY
“Running through a relevant example on the second day after learning all the concepts discreetly on the first day helped with bringing it all together.”
-Anonymous participant, ANZ Bank, NY
