After releasing his bank’s 9-month trading update, ANZ Chief Executive Shayne Elliott said Asia remains an important market, but fringe businesses would go. Was it a hint that the wealth business will soon be offloaded?
According to the Melbourne based firm's in-house digital publication «BlueNotes» CEO Shayne Elliott spoke of the need for ANZ to reduce its exposure to some sectors taking it down in terms of risk-weighted assets and was asked if the bank was therefore planning to shrink from Asia.
Jettisoning Wealth Management
«Absolutely not. It’s about finding out those areas where we can do really well, where our customers will reward us, where we can help them - and doing more of that but also getting out of some of the fringe businesses that we have. And in terms of Asia, it’s absolutely not about getting out of Asia.»
«It’s really just about finding, as I said, those segments and areas that are doing well. There’s going to be a little bit of Risk-weighted assets (RWA) or balance sheet shrinkage in Asia at the moment. A lot of that is to do with the fact that commodity prices are down and therefore the value of what we are financing has come down naturally,» Elliott was quoted as saying.
finews.asia has been tracking the status of ANZ's Asian Wealth Management business, which is expected to be sold at some stage this year. Elliott is keen to simplify the international units of ANZ and concentrate on Australian domestic demand.
