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AmBank deal may provide ANZ exit

AmBank deal may provide ANZ exit

(1 June 2017 – Asia) ANZ Bank may be able to exit from its A$1.2 billion interest in Malaysian based AmBank, should tabled negotiations between that lender’s holding company and RHB Bank be approved by the country’s central bank.

A merger between the two would make the new lender the country’s fourth largest, behind Maybank, CIMB and Public Bank.

Depending on the terms of any deal, ANZ is likely to emerge with a more liquid holding of about 10 percent in the merged entity.

The bank ended the March half year with a tier-one capital ratio of 10.1 percent, leaving it well placed to comply with the banking regulator’s imminent discussion paper on what it will take to make the ­nation’s banks “unquestionably strong”.

ANZ’s 24 percent stake in AmBank is part of a A$5 billion portfolio across Asia driven by former CEO, Mike Smith. Since taking over from Smith earlier this year, Shayne Elliott has sought to retreat from the bulk of those investments, and refocussing the bank on the intuitional segment in the region.

In January, ANZ announced the sale of its 20 percent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank to two Chinese entities for $1.84 billion. The bank still owns 12 percent of Bank of Tianjin, and 39 percent of Bank Pan Indonesia.

East & Partners Asia’s Trade Finance Report, which interviews the top 1000 corporates across Asia (excluding Japan), has found that the bank’s share of primary trade finance relationships in the region has dipped by 7.5 percent since 2014. In addition, the report showed that ANZ’s primary trade finance wallet share has dropped by nearly 21 percent over the same period, compared to 3.75 percent for the top four providers, which includes HSBC, Citigroup, Standard Chartered and DBS.

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