Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has completed the acquisition of The Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) retail and commercial businesses in Hong Kong.
ANZ has re-branded the former RBS Hong Kong branches and brought customers and staff across to ANZ. Former RBS customers retain their existing relationship managers and can continue to access branches, ATMs and Internet banking facilities as usual.
Additionally, the bank has launched ANZ Signature Priority Banking, a new service to meet the needs of affluent retail customers, and plans to roll out the service across Asia Pacific over the next 18 months.
The first ANZ Signature Priority Banking branch was launched in Central Hong Kong at the International Finance Centre (IFC), one of six ANZ branches now open for business in Hong Kong.
Alex Thursby, CEO of ANZ Asia Pacific, Europe and America, said: “The RBS integration is progressing to plan and today we welcome more than 40,000 customers and 350 staff in Hong Kong. Our business here is particularly important in connecting customers across Greater China, as well as across our Asia Pacific network, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America.
“With ANZ Signature Priority Banking we will be spending more time building relationships with clients and really getting to know their needs and individual goals, rather than simply selling them products.
“ANZ has a very strong heritage in commercial banking, and we’ll provide a relationship-led service for our new commercial clients, backed by our institutional product range and network across more than 30 countries globally.”
Hong Kong is the third of six markets to transition to ANZ ownership after the RBS acquisition was completed in the Philippines and Vietnam in late 2009. ANZ is acquiring the RBS retail and commercial businesses in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, and the institutional businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam.