ANZ expects to see more divestments of Asian assets by US and European banks over the next 18 months and hopes to make further acquisitions in the region.
ANZ is still in the process of finalising the recent acquisition of a number of Asian businesses from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), but this would not form an obstacle in making further acquisitions, the bank said.
"In terms of Asia, we do have to bed down the RBS deal. We are on track to complete in June and that doesn't preclude us from doing anything else," ANZ chief executive Mike Smith said.
"As opportunities come up we will look at it very closely. The fact is that after June we will have a very significant execution team twiddling their thumbs, and I hope something does come up."
Smith did not want to divulge the type of assets the bank would be interested in.
"I think certain assets make more sense to some banks than others, but I do anticipate that we will see further sales of portfolios and businesses from US and European banks in the next 18 months," he said.
"We will look at whatever makes sense, but it will depend very much on what people are going to be forced to divest," Smith said.
ANZ gave an update on its performance for the first four months of the 2010 financial year on Friday.
The group reported a 16 per cent rise in underlying profit after tax to $1.6 billion for the period from 1 October 2009 to 31 January 2010.
ANZ recently acquired the retail, wealth and commercial businesses of RBS in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong. It also acquired institutional businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The transactions in the Philippines and Vietnam have already been completed, while completion is scheduled in Hong Kong for March, in Taiwan for April, in Singapore for May and in Indonesia for June, the company said.
Recent speculation has also suggested ANZ was in conversation with AMP about a $4 billion deal that would see ANZ take a stake in AMP in exchange for ING Australia.
But ANZ denied the rumours and said its focus in Australia was on the integration of ING Australia and the organic growth of the business.
The two non-consecutive alphabetic letters encountered most often last week caused more controversy than the underlying policy they represented, Wouter Klijn writes.... read more »
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