Banking giant ANZ readies plan for India ops expansion

Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ), the Melbourne-based bank with a market capitalisation of A$85 billion and assets of A$772 billion, said that India will become the growth engine for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

In an interaction with Deccan Herald during the inauguration of a new office spread over 300,000 square feet with a capacity of 2,275 seats, ANS Chief Executive Officer Michael Smith said China, and even Indonesia, were witnessing lesser than expected growth currently.

“India can play a prominent role in the growth of the APAC region and ANZ would like to be a part of the growth story. I am encouraged by the new government which is more business-friendly. It has succeeded in bringing reforms like limiting the role of the bureaucracy,” he said. He also said that even though China is slowing down, the world needs China for its growth as much as US is required.

2 more branches soon
Smith also said ANZ’s commitment to India has increased and is now an important part of its regional strategy. “We had been slower in our India build-up. ANZ established its Mumbai branch in 2011 and today supports institutional and corporate clients with their banking requirements,” he said.

ANZ is not new to the Indian banking scene as it re-entered the Indian market and sought approval from RBI back in 2010. ANZ used to own Grindlays Bank, which had a significant presence in India, but sold the operations in 2000 to Standard Chartered.
Smith announced that the bank will open its new branch in Gurgaon on Tuesday, making it the second branch in India.

“In May 2014, ANZ received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open new branches in Gurgaon and in outer Bengaluru. We will open the Bengaluru branch later this year. We will apply for more licences to cater to the sheer size of India,” he said.

Captive employs 8,000
ANZ also operates one of its six shared services hub operations around the globe in Bengaluru where 8,000 employees support businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. “We started this hub in 1998 with 40 people and made a giant leap in 2007 onwards supporting the technology and operations, which improve our efficiency,” he said.

The CEO said ANZ believes in captive shop as a strategy. “We do not want a third party holding a major role in our organisation. And this is our long-term strategy,” he said. “As financial technology develops and digitisation become more and more important, banks will have to be more agile quicker. You will have to manage the process and control customer experience,” he said.

The ANZ India shared services hub undertakes both technology and operations, said ANZ Bengaluru Managing Director Pankajam Sridevi. “In technology, we are into development and service management. And in operations, we started off with commercial services followed by retail business. ANZ Bengaluru hub also operates shared services. It undertakes 70 per cent of overall trade and finance operations. The hub also has the largest credit certified personnel in the country in a captive centre. ANZ also avails 50 per cent of its mortgage credit assessors from here. Now we are moving to data analytics and operational insights,” she said.