INTERVIEW:ANZ May Look At ING's Asian Private Banking Assets

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ.AU) Chief Executive Mike Smith said Tuesday that the group will look at ING Groep NV's (ING) Asian private banking business, but those assets may not fit in with the Australian bank's strategy.

ING is seeking buyers for its private-banking business in Europe and Asia, according to people familiar with the situation last month, the latest step by the financial-services firm to slim down after it was forced to turn to the Dutch government for aid last year.

But Smith said that ANZ's target market in wealth management is less the ultra-high net worth individual catered to by private bankers than the mid-range wealth management offerings of retail banks.

"I am not sure how much ING works with our core business class," Smith told Dow Jones Newswires. "We are better with the HSBC Premier and Citigold sort of business class, rather than private banking. I don't think we should be competing with the UBS's (AG) or the Goldman Sachs's (Group Inc.) of the world."

ANZ said Tuesday it will pay US$550 million for some of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's (RBS) Asian banking operations, including institutional businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

RBS has entered into a two-year non-compete agreement with ANZ in those markets it sold the Australian bank its institutional businesses. That means RBS won't participate in domestic deals in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, whether it is traditional "flow businesses" such as foreign exchange swaps or more traditional investment banking operations like debt issuances, equity underwriting and advising on mergers & acquisitions. Smith said, however, that ANZ is not interested in bulge-bracket investment banking, and has no plans to launch M&A advisory and equity underwriting in those places.

"The acquisitions give us a branch presence, and a commercial banking business, especially in trade, forex, and normal debt finance," he said. "This is good for flow business and money transactions. All this makes money."

In the short-term, the bank plans to focus on serving local corporates with businesses in Australia or vice versa. But in the medium-term, it hopes to tap Asian corporates engaged in intra-Asian trade, Smith said.

-By Amy Or, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832 2335; amy.or@dowjones.com

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