Australia and New Zealand Banking group, one of the parent companies of Cambodia’s ANZ Royal, posted record profits this year, but its new Cambodian joint venture is still in its growing stages, ANZ Royal’s CEO said Monday.
ANZ Royal is a joint venture between ANZ, which controls 55 percent of the bank, and the Royal Group, headed by Kith Meng, president of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce and who also operates MobiTel and CTN.
ANZ had a record after-tax profit of $2.83 billion in the 12 months ending Sept 30, according to its annual report released Thursday. Personal banking services were key to this 16 percent increase in profits, the bank said.
An exception to the growth was ANZ’s partnerships division, which includes ANZ Royal, as well as banks in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Profits decreased in this sector of the company by 4 percent, but the bank said that this was due to investment in growth.
Operating expenses for the partnerships division had increased 24 percent in part “due to the first full year of operations in Cambodia” and credit card business in Indonesia, the annual report states.
Dean Cleland, ANZ Royal CEO, wrote in an e-mail that the investment in ANZ Royal in its first year should pay off in the future.
“In terms of Cambodia, we are still very much in the establishment phase,” he said.
He said that ANZ Royal, which opened offices in August 2005, now has over 24,000 customers, $170 million in deposits, allowing it to capture 14 percent of the Cambodian consumer banking market.
“We are building a business which has long term sustainability and that means some short-term shareholder sacrifices around profits,” Cleland wrote, adding that ANZ Royal is not focusing on short-term profitability.
In addition to the seven branches it now has in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap town and Sihanoukville, ANZ Royal plans to open locations in Poipet commune and Battambang and Kompong Cham provinces, he said.
