ANZ spelled out a few more targets for its Asian businesses in investor presentations yesterday, on the second day of a tour of north-east Asia. The overarching aspiration is for ANZ to be "a top three foreign bank in south and south-east Asia".
This includes becoming the "top foreign bank in Indonesia", a market which "has the foundation to be one of our largest countries."
ANZ also aims to be a "dominant foreign bank in greater Mekong and Indonesia".
Finally ANZ said it wishes to be a "top four foreign bank in Singapore".
None of these aspirations will make ANZ a large bank in any of those markets, a goal that could be reached only by taking over a sizeable domestic bank.
One such opportunity exists in Indonesia where, as previously reported, the Gunawan family is looking for a buyer for their 46 per cent stake in Panin Bank.
Reuters yesterday reported that ANZ was "putting all its resources behind securing the Panin deal", while it's having second thoughts about a much more expensive bid for a controlling stake in Korea Exchange Bank.
Meanwhile Panin vice-president Roosniati Salihin told the
Sydney Morning Herald that the Gunawan family was in no hurry to sell.
''Bank Panin is one of the best and biggest banks in Indonesia, so it's quite natural if there are a lot of investors who are keen to buy stakes,'' she said.
Potential buyers should come up with ''clear strategies'' to develop Bank Panin over the next five to 10 years, she told the newspaper.