According to the bank, the retail banking license will assist its subsidiary ANZ China to run local business such as currency deposits, mortgages, bancassurance and wealth management products and services in local currency.
ANZ CEO Asia and chairman ANZ China Gilles Plante said securing the Retail RMB license is a significant milestone in further expanding the bank’s capabilities to support Chinese customers in building and protecting their wealth.
"The number of high net worth and affluent customers in China is growing rapidly and we see great potential to provide our global product and service expertise, and provide support by expanding our China network with a new sub-branch in Guangzhou in 2012, said Plante.
"We have found that businesses that participate in offshore RMB trade can benefit from pricing transparency, resulting in more favourable trade terms with their Chinese partners."
ANZ’s network of branches and sub-branches in China is focused on the high growth areas of the Bohai Bay Rim (including Beijing), Yangtze River Delta (including Shanghai), Pearl River Delta (including Guangzhou) and Western China (including Chongqing), which have a combined GDP of $5.3 trillion.
The bank, which owns stakes of 20% in both China’s Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank and Bank of Tianjin has long term strategy to become a prominent player in Asian region, said the bank.
