HONG KONG-- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. has
tapped a senior executive from Bank of America Merrill Lynch to run
its China business, the latest high profile recruit by the
Australian lender as it pursues an aggressive growth strategy in
Asia.
The Melbourne-based bank has appointed Huang Xiaoguang as chief
executive officer for China and head of Greater China, based in
Shanghai. Mr. Huang will join from Bank of America Merrill Lynch,
where he was most recently co-head of global corporate and
investment banking in the U.S. bank's China business. He previously
held roles at ABN Amro and Citigroup Inc. and replaces Li Quan, who
resigned in August.
The new hire comes just months after ANZ recruited one of
Citigroup's most senior bankers in Asia, Farhan Faruqui, as CEO for
international banking. Mr. Huang will report to Mr. Faruqui.
"It says something about the franchise we have that we are
continuing to attract some people of strong experience and strong
reputation in the marketplace," said Andrew Géczy, ANZ's CEO for
international and institutional banking.
ANZ has been steadily lifting its profile in key Asian markets
as part of a strategy to build a "super regional bank" and source
up to 30% of its earnings from outside its home markets by 2017. It
recently was one of a handful of foreign banks to win a license to
operate in Myanmar and has plans to build its presence in gold
trading in China.
The Australian bank wants to win market share from big
international rivals including Citigroup, HSBC Holdings PLC and
Standard Chartered PLC, who dominate corporate banking in the
region.
ANZ has also appointed Amar Bindra to a new position as head of
client execution, international banking. Mr. Bindra was most
recently head of institutional credit for Asia Pacific at
Citigroup.
Last week, the bank said net profit rose 15% to 7.27 billion
Australian dollars (US$6.42 billion) in the year through September
from A$6.31 billion. Earnings outside Australia and New Zealand
jumped 20% in the year to A$1.22 billion.
--Robb M. Stewart contributed to this article.
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