ANZ yesterday played down reports that it was already a bidder for the controlling, 51 per cent stake in Korea Exchange Bank that US fund Lone Star has on the market.Seoul Economic Daily yesterday reported that Standard Chartered and ANZ each proposed a price for the stake of less than four trillion won (or less than US$3.3 billion), and less than the present market value of the shares.The Korea Financial Times separately reported that Macquarie Group is also interested in KEB, which would have to be in conjunction with other investors.ANZ chief executive Mike Smith told media in Shanghai yesterday it was "too early to say" whether the bank will submit a bid."The report is inaccurate," Dow Jones reported Smith as saying. "Look, there's still some way to play out this one. And certainly the prospectus is around. We are looking at that."ANZ is conducting a tour of select operations in Asia for fund managers and analysts next week.