ANZ to sell its holding in ANZ Royal
ANZ yesterday confirmed that it was looking to sell its majority holding of ANZ Royal in Cambodia and was still evaluating its options in Indonesia, where it has a minority stake in Panin.ANZ Royal would be the smallest, by value, of ANZ's bank holdings in Asia.Yesterday, Mike Smith, the bank's chief executive, told a Hong Kong media briefing on the Asian banking sector that "there are a couple of situations there which don't make sense for us anymore.""We've spoken many times about Panin. That could go either way in Indonesia."We got out of a relationship, a small relationship, in Vietnam."We would like to do the same in Cambodia. I'd much rather have wholly owned businesses in these places. "But other than that, if there is a regulatory reason, and China and Malaysia fall into that bucket, then we have to continue run with what we have."The bank's head of Asia, Andrew Géczy, said ANZ was looking to "strengthen its footprint" in Thailand and Myanmar and was waiting for decisions by regulators on whether it would secure banking licences in those countries.ANZ Royal, a joint venture with conglomerate Royal Group, dates from 2004. The joint venture has fostered the spread of banking services in a chronically under-banked market over that time.Earlier this year the bank was entangled in a controversy over loans to a sugar plantation employing child labour.