SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd chief executive John McFarlane said he expects the bank to lifts its proportion of Asia-Pacific assets to 25 pct from 10 pct and 'then take it from there', the Australian newspaper reported.
In an interview with the Australian, McFarlane said if the bank was permitted to have bigger stakes, especially in China, it would take them.
'And if we were permitted to go to more places in China, we would go there. We are in two development nodes already, and we would love to be in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, but there's no regulatory way to do so. It will be paced, but it will open up,' he told the newspaper.
Late last week, ANZ accelerated its Asia expansion program by signing a 383 mln aud deal to take an initial 13.5 pct holding in AMMB Holdings Bhd as part of pending negotiations to acquire a broader 20-25 pct interest in the Malaysian company.
It followed ANZ paying 252 mln usd for 19.9 pct of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. In July ANZ bought 20 pct of Tianjin City Commercial Bank for 111.5 mln usd.
ANZ also owns 29 pct of Panin Bank in Indonesia, 40 pct of a credit card joint venture with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co in the Philippines, 10 pct of Sacombank in Vietnam, and 55 pct of ANZ Royal Bank Cambodia.
(1 usd = 1.28 aud)
bruce.hextall@xfn.com
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