Briefs: ANZ seeks Thai licence, Indonesian profits, business lending bounces and Credit Corp on trac

ANZ is seeking a banking licence in Thailand this year or next year, the bank's chief executive told a media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. ANZ is also aiming for 20 branches in China over the next five to 10 years - up from the present six.

The Australian published some high level data on the trading of the Indonesian subsidiaries of ANZ and Commonwealth Bank in Indonesia for the 2010 calendar year. ANZ Panin earned made a net profit of IDR163.3 billion (A$17.6 million) in calendar 2010. Commonweath Bank's Indonesia subsidiary made a net profit of IDR2.7 billion. Total assets for ANZ Panin at the end of 2010 were IDR19.8 trillion, ahead of Commonwealth on IDR11.54 trillion, the newspaper reported

The flow of new business loans is proving highly variable, even when measuring supply on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says the value of commercial finance commitments in March 2012 increased 8.8 per cent, to A$31.8 billion, after a fall of 8.1 per cent in February 2012. Measured on a trend basis, the flow of new business finance fell 1.2 per cent in March.

The profit of debt collections firm Credit Corp will be at the high end of the guidance provided back in February. The firm now says it expects to report a net profit for the year to June 2012 of between A$26 million and $27 million. It expects earnings per share to be between 57 and 59 cents. In a market update, the firm also said that it provided $4 million in small value personal loans and larger debt consolidation loans through its new lending arm.