An Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) logo is displayed in a branch window in Sydney, Australia, September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

By Scott Murdoch and Christine Chen

SYDNEY, Dec 12 (Reuters) - ANZ Group's former CEO Shayne Elliott on Friday accused the bank of breaching a contract covering his departure terms when it stripped him of bonuses worth A$13.5 million ($9 million) as he began legal action against the Australian lender.

ANZ said it would defend a case brought by Elliott in the New South Wales Supreme Court against the bank relating to his remuneration outcomes in the 2025 financial year.

The ANZ board cut Elliott's and other executives' bonuses after the bank agreed to pay a A$240 million civil penalty to regulators for systemic failures ranging from acting "unconscionably" in a government bond deal to charging dead customers.

"The bank and I had a clear, unambiguous agreement about the terms of my departure," Elliott, who served as the bank's CEO for almost a decade until May 2025, said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

"As you would expect, having entered into a contract, my expectation is that those terms would be honoured."

Elliott said he had offered to forgo his 2024 bonus and incentive payments. He said he would seek a New South Wales Supreme Court declaration that ANZ had breached the contract he had with the bank over his leaving terms.

"I will be seeking the earliest possible hearing of my claim before the court and am fully committed to see this process through," he said.

Other former and current executives also endured pay and bonus eliminations in sweeping cuts worth about A$32 million, according to ANZ's annual report.

"The Board has been considered and very deliberate in its assessment of remuneration outcomes," ANZ Chairman Paul O'Sullivan said in a statement to the stock exchange.

"We are confident in our position and we will defend this matter vigorously," he said.

ANZ's board had said a zero bonus for Elliott was "appropriate for 2025 having regard to the overall performance of the Group, and his accountability as the former CEO for the various non-financial risk matters".

A recent report from a proxy advisory firm showed Elliott still retained about A$7.9 million worth of long-term incentive pay after the cuts had been made.

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Christine Chen in Sydney; Additional reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jamie Freed)