ANZ finalises sale of subsidiaries to foreign banks

Originally announced in October 2016, the big four bank has officially finalised the sale of six Asian-based retail and wealth businesses in Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to DBS Bank.

ANZ also finalised the sale of its retail business in Vietnam to Shinhan Bank in 2017.

ANZ group executive of international Farhan Faruqui has said that the sales would allow the lender to strengthen its focus on goods and capital movement across Asia.

“With the sale of these retail businesses in Asia now finalised, we can further strengthen our focus on supporting large corporate and institutional customers moving goods and capital across the region,” Mr Faruqui said.

Further, in December 2017, ANZ sold its 20 per cent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB), first announced in January 2017, and also attempted to sell its finance subsidiary UDC Finance to Chinese conglomerate HNA Group but was denied by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) in the same month.

[Related: ANZ updates asset finance commissions]