SINGAPORE – More companies are looking to diversify to other parts of Asia instead of focusing on China alone, due to recent tensions with China, said Shyan Elliott, CEO of Australia Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
ANZ – Australia, one of Australia’s largest banks – is in talks with Australian and New Zealand companies about Asian opportunities, he told CNBC’s Will Culoris on Thursday.
“We have a message: Asia is not just China. There is a big difference between the opportunities of Japan, or Korea, or Singapore, or the Philippines or India, and we want to introduce it to the people,” Elliott said.
Geographically, it’s opening people’s minds rather than being a little more thoughtful about the diversified strategy in Asia, than just knowing you, choosing a place to do business.
Cheyenne Elliott
CEO of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
Tensions between China and Australia have intensified in recent months after Canberra called for a global investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. The move angered Beijing, which has banned trade on Australian imports.
Elliott said recent developments have opened people’s minds to think more about their strategy in Asia.
“It’s been a little bit better about recent issues,” he told CNBC.
When will earnings return to normal?
Speaking to CNBC, CEBC, which said after announcing the bank’s full-year results, said full-year cash profits fell 3% to 76.7676 billion Australian dollars. According to a Reuters poll, it was better than the estimate of 3.5111 billion Australian dollars.
Banks are under pressure as the Australian economy goes through its first recession in 30 years amid a coronavirus epidemic, and interest rates are at record lows.
When asked when earnings will be back on track, Elliott said the banking industry faces “some sort of regular” crisis every 7 to 10 years.
“It really means that all of a sudden you have this shock for the system and for our customers, even if it’s mom and dad, small business, big business, all of a sudden these new needs that weren’t there before … it’s really time. Is “full of opportunity,” he said.
He added: “So I don’t know how to get back to normal, I don’t know if ANZ will ever look the way it did before.”
Instead it will look like that, Elliott said, focusing on more digital, data-driven initiatives and sustainable finance.
“That’s what we’re really leaning into – it’s an investment to meet the needs of the customer, which is really, really different,” he said.
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