Aussie bank eyes Malaysia, Thailand

Aussie bank eyes Malaysia, Thailand

MELBOURNE (Reuters): One of Australia's major banks said
yesterday it was considering expanding into Thailand and Malaysia
by acquisition, seizing on financial turmoil in the region to
boost its Asian profile.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) said the
heavy fall in Southeast Asian currencies and asset values was a
chance for the bank to widen its Asian coverage and be better
positioned to ride the next wave of economic growth.

"We have gaps in the network in Thailand and Malaysia and we
are looking actively at how they can be plugged," the chief of
ANZ's investment banking arm, John Sunderland, told Reuters.

Asked if the bank was considering acquisitions, he said: "We
are looking at all sorts of possibilities, yes."

Sunderland declined to say how much ANZ was prepared to spend,
saying: "We have not even got to that."

But he said ANZ's balance sheet was very strong and that any
acquisition would be done as a group expansion rather than merely
extending the reach of its ANZ Investment Banking unit.

Sunderland, formerly head of merchant banking for Barclays de
Zoete Wedd (BZW), also denied rumors that ANZ was interested in
buying his old employer's Australian operations.

British bank Barclays Plc this month put some of its BZW
investment bank operations up for sale. It wants to sell the
equities and mergers-and-acquisition sides of the business.

ANZ is rebuilding its equities business, but Sunderland said
it was not bidding for either BZW or another major local
brokerage asset up for sale, County Natwest Securities, a unit of
Britain's National Westminster Bank Plc.

"I don't think we need to make an acquisition in this market,"
he said.

ANZ Investment Banking is firmly focused on Asia where it sees
it has a strategic edge over other offshore merchant banks which
cannot boast the same local experience, Sunderland said.