The "Punic Reform" didn't happen in Italy.
We all know about Polybius and Livy saying about punic troops "arming themselves with roman equipment" but the line in itself needs to be put in context.

In reality Hannibal's lybians were already "reformed" when he took them out of Iberia and for a good reason.
"Standard issue" Lybians were armed in a similar way to the punic civic infantry, which means an hoplite-style kit.
We also need to remember that these lybians were at least in part Hamalcar's veterans, who spent around 20 years in Iberia fighting iberian troops (the same guys that would give Rome more than one headache), which considering the terrain is quite unsuitable in the aforementioned gear, quite like the Romans against the Samnites.

So what we have here is troops adapting to iberian warfare which is quite closer to the roman one and in the process adopting some roman equipment.
It is likely that many lybians were dual purpose troops, able to fight both in a close order formation and in looser iberian style, making them a powerful and flexible tool.

Fast forwarding to 218 Hannibal leaves Iberian with a troop mix composed of:

- "African" Lybian infantry (relatively fresh troops recruited and trained in preparation for the expedition)
- Iberian infantry (armed and fighting already "in the roman manner")
- "Iberian" Lybian infantry (veterans inherited from Hamalcar and Hasdrubal, hardened and trained in iberian warfare, quite likely to fight in a similar way)

We know very well what follows, Hannibal crosses the alps, adds celt troops to his army and wins two battles with the romans.
What follows and is told to us is just standard procedure for the winners, aka taking the spoils.
Being veterans it is normal that Lybian and iberians gets first choice of battlefield loot, the most expensive piece being armour they naturally pick that followed by shields that are still in good shape and are similar to the ones they are used to.

To prove this point we should remember that Hasdrubal's troops at Metaurus are also reported to be "armed in the roman manner" and as we know he didn't exactly have an unbroken string of victories against the romans to afford the same loot as his elder brother.

That said, the punic reform in game is made to represent the growing celtic and iberian influences over the punic army after the 1st punic war, as well as the need to punic generals to have a more efficent army against Rome itself.
In EB2 the reform has been reviewed and enriched so expect a broader (and subtler in some aspects) change overall.