Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), ANZ (ASX:ANZ) and HSBC (LON:HSBA) Battle in Asia
Sydney, Aug 5, 2009 AEST (ABN Newswire) - International banks, such as UK-based Standard Chartered Plc (LON:STAN), HSBC (LON:HSBA) and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ), devoted more efforts to strengthen their exposure in Asia market amid global economy downturn.
Standard Chartered is seeking a war chest of GBP 1.01 billion by new shares that it may use to buy more Asian assets. The placing comes six months after the bank raised US$2.68 billion from a rights issue.
Standard Chartered said net profit was $1.88 billion compared with $1.79 billion in the first half of last year. Profit from wholesale banking was up 37 percent, offsetting poor results in some regions such as Korea, Middle East and South Asia.
It is believed that Standard Chartered is in discussions to buy the retail and consumer operations of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LON:RBS) in Asia including India and China, while it has shelved its plan to raise US$1 billion through a listing in India.
Asia is expected to be the engine of growth for these international lenders as the economies of these countries grow faster than the world average.
Earlier Tuesday, ANZ said it will pay US$550 million for RBS assets in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Vietnam.
HSBC Holdings, one of Standard Chartered's competitors, is taking steps toward a hoped-for initial public offering in Shanghai to raise HSBC's profile in the Chinese market, as China is "the largest part of the puzzle" of growth and will be an investment focus over the next 25 to 50 years. HSBC was believed to be one of the suitors showing interest in RBS's Asia assets.
HSBC said ANZ's plan to buy some of RBS's Asian banking operations won't likely change the competitive landscape of the region's banking sector and its real competitors in China are the big Chinese banks rather than international banks.
Contact
Michelle Liang
Asia Business News Asia Bureau
Tel: +61-2-9247-4344
Email: michelle.liang@abnnewswire.net
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