ANZ today announced a further milestone in its super regional strategy with the approval of a full banking licence by Thailand’s Ministry of Finance and ANZ Thai opening today to support growing trade and investment flows to and from Thailand.
Located in the Bangkok’s finance district, ANZ Thai will be an important addition to ANZ’s Asia network and its activities in the Greater Mekong region that already includes operations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
ANZ CEO International and Institutional Banking Andrew Géczy said: “This is an important milestone for our super regional strategy and means we can now better connect our multinational customers to the growing trade and investment flows across Asia with the Greater Mekong.
“Thailand already accounts for almost 65 per cent of Greater Mekong’s GDP and its trade with ASEAN countries totals around $US97 billion. Along with Thailand’s position as a key manufacturing hub for the region, these growing connections to its ASEAN neighbours and our home markets of Australia and New Zealand makes it an important market for our super regional franchise.”
Panadda Manoleehakul has been appointed CEO of ANZ Thai. Ms Manoleehakul has more than 25 years corporate and institutional banking experience and was previously CEO for ANZ Philippines. Prior to joining ANZ in 2008, she held senior banking roles across Asia with HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Chase Manhattan Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.
“Panadda built a strong, growing franchise for ANZ in The Philippines and has been
instrumental in the process to gain our banking licence in Thailand. I’m pleased ANZ will continue to benefit from her experience and leadership as she continues to drive our expansion into Thailand,” said Mr Géczy.
