ANZ chief on the prowl

ANZ's new chief executive has his eye on Asia as he looks for new acqusition targets.

ANZ chief on the prowl

NEW ANZ chief executive Mike Smith has outlined a future for the bank as predator in the Asian region rather than prey, while predicting one of the nation's lenders will be acquired by a Chinese bank within five years.

Visiting ANZ's operations in New Zealand yesterday for the second time, Mr Smith said in Wellington that he had "no idea'' which Australian bank was likely to be acquired.

"That's why I want to be on the front foot. I'm going to move before they move on me,'' he said.

The ANZ boss added to the sense of urgency surrounding his Asian plans by responding ``Watch this space'' when he was asked how soon the bank would be in a position to move.

He said the economic future of this part of the world was "completely linked to the growth in Asia''.
ANZ has developed a point of difference to its big-bank rivals by spending $1.7 billion on a portfolio of banking and credit card partnerships throughout the region.

In July it paid $102 million for a 10 per cent stake in fast-growing Vietnamese investment banking and securities business Saigon Securities.

The centrepiece so far, though, is a 24.9 per cent stake in Malaysia's fifth-biggest financial institution, AMMB Holdings, bought last year for $833 million.

ANZ has also paid $328 million for a 19.9 per cent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank in China.

The bank also announced yesterday plans to deepen the management ranks in its Asia-Pacific division, creating two new roles to report to the division's managing director, Alex Thursby.

Owen Wilson, previously managing director of international partnerships for the Asia-Pacific division, will become managing director of retail for Asia, reporting jointly to Mr Thursby and the head of ANZ's personal division, Brian Hartzer.

The role of managing director, institutional, for Asia, reporting to Mr Thursby and ANZ institutional boss Peter Hodgson, has gone to Mark Whelan, who was joint managing director of markets for the institutional division.

ANZ said Mr Whelan's role was to exploit growth opportunities for institutional clients through the bank's network and partners in the region.

Mr Wilson, on the other hand, had been given the responsibility of building a strong retail banking proposition in ANZ's existing markets in Asia and in the partnership businesses.

To support the new Asia-Pacific structure, ANZ also said there would be three senior roles, reporting to Mr Thursby, which would involve business and client development.

ANZ said Mike Guerin would continue as managing director, Pacific, while two new jobs would be created to cover south and southeast Asia as well as northeast Asia.

These roles would be filled after internal and external searches.

Mr Thursby said the structure would bring a renewed focus to ANZ's plans to become a significant regional financial services institution.

"It will enable us to deepen our market penetration, maximise earnings potential and to develop our franchise by harnessing the combined potential of our network and partnerships activities,'' he said.

Mr Smith has only been in the ANZ job since the beginning of this month.

He visited Auckland in the first week of his handover period, but yesterday was his first visit to Wellington.

ANZ became the biggest bank in NZ with the $4.9 billion purchase of National Bank of NZ in October 2003.