(SINGAPORE) ANZ - which appointed Lee Hsien Yang to its board this year - is said to be closing in on its bid to buy over some of the Asian operations of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), including those in Singapore.
If ANZ does emerge as the buyer, it would enlarge its presence in Singapore considerably as RBS is selling its retail and small and medium-sized (SME) businesses here.
Although ANZ has been in Singapore since 1974 with its office on the 32nd floor of OUB Centre, it is not well known to the man in the street.
Its main businesses here are in wholesale, advisory and private banking.
RBS has five branches in Singapore and its retail and SME businesses employ about 660 people. It is active in unsecured loans, wealth and SME lending.
A Bloomberg report yesterday said that ANZ, Australia's fourth-largest lender, is in the lead to buy RBS units in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Standard Chartered Bank was said to be the likely winner to pick up RBS business in China, India and Malaysia.
An RBS spokeswoman yesterday said the bank is well advanced with the sale process.
'However, due to regulatory constraints and the confidentiality of the process we will not be commenting on any individual bidders or elements of the transaction process until its completion,' she said.
'In the meantime, it is business as usual at our branches and offices and RBS is committed to its customers and employees to ensure smooth transition of the businesses to the new owners once the transaction is announced.'
ANZ and Stanchart declined to comment.
In May, ANZ said it had submitted a non-binding bid for the RBS assets and had raised A$2.5 billion (S$2.91 billion) in a share sale to fund the acquisition and strengthen its balance sheet.
ANZ opened a representative office in Singapore in 1974. This was later converted to offshore bank status in 1980 and further upgraded to a wholesale bank in 2002.
ANZ Singapore is one of two designated ANZ regional hubs in Asia. The bank, which appointed Mr Lee to its board effective on Feb 1, 2009, has been on an expansion drive in Asia since 2007.
Growing its Asia-Pacific operations is pivotal for ANZ's super-regional strategy dreams, announced by its chief executive Mike Smith who joined in October 2007 from HSBC.
ANZ has set a target of delivering 20 per cent of group profits by 2012 from its Asia-Pacific operations. That is as big as the contribution of its New Zealand business. It is New Zealand's leading bank.
In May, it awarded to Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) a A$500 million five-year contract to provide telecommunications and managed network services.
As part of the contract, SingTel and its wholly owned Aussie subsidiary, Optus Networks Pty Limited (Optus), will provide global managed network services to ANZ in Australia and 30 countries across Asia and the Pacific, including ANZ's technology and operations centre in Bangalore, India to support ANZ's super-regional strategy.
RBS Singapore overall employs about 2,300 people, including 260 at RBS Coutts.
Singapore is the global and regional hub for RBS's backroom operations, providing support for global banking and markets. It is also the regional hub for other activities, including credit risk management and global transaction services.
RBS Coutts is not for sale, neither is RBS's global banking and markets and global transaction services.
In March, RBS said it remained committed to maintaining an international presence with global banking and markets and global transaction services being an integral part of it.
