ANZ consolidates China presence
ANZ has finalised its purchase of a 20 per cent stake in Chinese bank Tianjin City Commercial Bank (TCCB).
ANZ, which recently celebrated 20 years of operations in Asia, claims its US$111.5 million investment is the largest stake in a Chinese bank held by a foreign bank.
The deal was initiated in December last year with the signing of a share subscription agreement allocating 495,625,000 TCCB shares to ANZ.
At the time, TCCB assets were approximately US$8.5 billion, derived from a network of 180 branches and sub branches serving more than five million customer accounts.
Final regulatory approval has now been received for the strategic partnership, which covers the full range of retail banking services.
Chief executive John McFarlane said the ANZ has worked closely with TCCB on “quick win” projects in retail banking and other sectors to be completed during the next six months.
McFarlane anticipates the projects will “lead directly into medium-to-long-term projects that will strengthen TCCB’s market position over the next five years”.
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