ANZ Bank mulls raising US$400mln for China expansion

China would be next in Asia Pacific after ANZ had established foothold in Indonesia and Vietnam.

ANZ Bank will inject a further $US400 million ($435m) into its expanding business in China after securing regulatory approval for a locally incorporated bank, hopefully by April.

Asia Pacific, Europe and America chief executive Alex Thursby said ANZ's primary focus would be on China, having spent the past 12-14 months on building a solid foundation in two of its other franchise markets -- Indonesia and Vietnam.

"We got our licences there, got approval for incorporation in Vietnam and built our branches, and now we're doing the same in China," Mr Thursby said in a report in The Australian.

Incorporation, leading to the additional capital commitment on top of the $US152m already invested, will build a platform for institutional and retail banking growth through RMB products and other services for Chinese customers.

Beyond that, ANZ has said it will expand its existing network of two foreign bank branches and a representative office by opening more than 20 branches by 2012.