ANZ is one of the leading Australian banks in the Asia-Pacific region. It has been aggressive in its expansion into the emerging markets of China, Vietnam and Indonesia. ANZ is also a leading bank in New Zealand as well as several Pacific Island Nation where it competes in many markets with fellow Australian bank Westpac. ANZ's arm in New Zealand is operated through a subsidiary company, ANZ National Bank, from 2003 to 2012, when it changed to ANZ Bank New Zealand upon merging the ANZ and National Bank brands. In March 2005, it formed a strategic alliance with Vietnam's Sacombank involving an acquisition of 10% of Sacombank’s share capital. As part of the strategic alliance, ANZ will provide technical assistance in the areas of risk management and retail and small business banking. ANZ has followed a similar strategy in China, where it acquired a 20% share in Tianjin City Commercial Bank in July 2006. It also negotiated a similar deal with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. In August 2009, ANZ purchased RBS's retail units in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, as well as RBS's banking businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam. It was purchased for the price of A$687 million. As of September 2012, the company had a total of 1,337 branches worldwide. In 2016, ANZ adopted less aggressive approach to expansion in the Asia-Pacific region after low returns. At the end of October 2016 ANZ announced the sale of its Asian retail and wealth management operations to the Development Bank of Singapore; ANZ also signalled a withdrawal from its "Asian pivot".
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly called ANZ, is the fourth largest bank by market capitalisation in Australia, after the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac Banking Corporation and National Australia Bank.[2]Australian operations make up the largest part of ANZ's business, with commercial and retail banking dominating. ANZ is also the largest bank in New Zealand, where the legal entity became known as ANZ National Bank Limited in 2003 and changed to ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited in 2012. From 2003 to 2012 it operated two brands in New Zealand, ANZ and the National Bank of New Zealand. The National Bank brand was retired in 2012, with a number of branches closing and others converting to ANZ branches. In addition to operations throughout Australia and New Zealand, ANZ also operates in 34 other nations. ANZ was named the most sustainable bank globally in the 2008 Dow Jones Sustainability Index making it the 2nd year in a row ANZ has been granted the title. In 2007 the title was shared with another Australian bank, Westpac, which had held the title for the previous five years.