SINGAPORE: Singapore’s largest bank, DBS Group, is buying ANZ’s retail banking and wealth management units in five Asian countries, in a bid to consolidate its presence in Asia.
The Singapore bank will pay 110 million Singapore dollars ($79.06 million) above book value for the portfolios in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia, giving it access to about 1.3 million customers, including more than 100,000 private wealth clients.
Singapore’s largest bank, DBS Group, is buying ANZ’s retail banking and wealth management units in five Asian countries, in a bid to consolidate its presence in Asia. The Singapore bank will pay 110 million Singapore dollars ($79.06 million) above book value for the portfolios in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia, giving it access to about 1.3 million customers, including more than 100,000 private wealth clients.
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta called the deal “reasonable-sized” and hinted that it played to DBS’ strengths. Speaking to CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Monday, Gupta acknowledged the deal would open the bank up to a sizable group of customers in the mass affluent space.
“We are a good mass affluent player and we can integrate [them] into our own business at minimal marginal cost,” he said.
“Mass affluent” refers to clients who are considered to be at the top end of the mass market. ANZ’s CEO Shayne Elliott, meanwhile, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in an exclusive interview that the amount of resources needed by ANZ to be in the five markets was not sustainable in the long term.
“We think for our shareholders and customers, we’re better to put those resources where we can win and do a better job. And that’s institutional [banking],” he said.
