ANZ eyes Asian expansion

The head of ANZ Group Holdings is eyeing expansion opportunities in India, Vietnam, and China to meet the increasing demand for the bank’s services across multiple regions.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong on Monday, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott highlighted the rapid geographical shift in the bank’s business.

“Our business is shifting geographically quite fast,” he told Bloomberg. “We need to respond to that as a bank. We are building out our capability in places like India, or like Vietnam, to help with that capacity as we see those trade flows and capital flows shift.”

Elliott noted that the bulk of ANZ’s business in the Asia Pacific region is conducted through its institutional bank, which has seen a significant improvement in return-on-equity, climbing from around 3% to mid-single digits during his tenure as CEO over the past eight years. He expressed optimism about the growth prospects in mainland China, where ANZ currently employs approximately 300 people.

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“Right now there is still an enormous demand for our services in mainland China,” Elliott told Bloomberg. “Our business there is growing, not shrinking, same here in Hong Kong. We will continue to invest in our platforms and capabilities in Hong Kong and mainland China.”

Regarding recent strategic moves, Elliott discussed ANZ’s acquisition of Suncorp Group Ltd.’s banking arm and the reduction of its stake in Malaysia’s AMMB Holdings Bhd. He also mentioned the bank’s strategy to divest its positions in Bank of Tianjin Co. and Bank Pan Indonesia.

“The sooner we can find more appropriate shareholders, the better,” Elliott said.

Elliott shared a cautious outlook on interest rates in Australia, deviating from the bank’s economists’ views.

“The house view is that we’ll probably see rate cuts toward the end of the calendar year; my personal view is that’s still optimistic,” he told Bloomberg. “Inflation is still more hard-set in Australia and around the world than people think.”

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