(16 February 2009 – Australia) Commonwealth Banking of Australia (CBA) chief, Ralph Norris has indicated that CBA too will look to the Asian expansion path.While fellow Big Four, ANZ, has long touted its intent to become a super regional bank in Asia, CBA has revealed that it has also added an Asian expansion to its strategy.
Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Norris, told CNBC television that the bank is interested in increased exposure to the region in the future.
Norris said that Asia is an area of interest and that the bank would certainly be interested in increasing their exposure to Asia going forward.
The global financial crisis has introduced new opportunities for the bank in Asia, Norris added.
Norris said that these once in a generation opportunities are in markets that normally would not be considered because there were barriers to entry there as far as costs were concerned, Norris said.
The news comes after the bank’s half year profit results saw a 16 percent fall in cash profit as well as another change in strategy through the recent local acquisition of BankWest.