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MELBOURNE - The ANZ Banking Group Ltd has extended its footprint in the Pacific with the acquisition of a small but strategic community bank in Guam for an undisclosed amount.
The Citizens Security Bank is a community bank with four branches in Guam and assets of US$139 million ($182 million). The Guam deal, which has been approved by shareholders and US regulators, adds to the ANZ's existing Pacific assets in American Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
It also has assets in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, East Timor and Vanuatu.
In April, chief executive John McFarlane said the bank's opportunities in Australasia were too limited.
Since then, the bank announced its replacement for McFarlane would be HSBC's head of Asian banking Michael Smith.
- AAP
