The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has been awarded a subsidiary banking licence in Thailand with the rights to open up to 20 branches, media reports say.
The new licence upgrades the ANZ’s representative office, in place since 1985.
ANZ will be the first bank from Australia to open a branch network in Thailand.
The new licence was granted by former finance minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong before he was forced from office this month following a constitutional court decision, a ministry source told The Bangkok Post.
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB) was also awarded a licence by the Thai Finance Ministry.
The banking licences require a minimum paid-up capital of 20,000 million baht (A$660 million) and are part of reforms under the Bank of Thailand’s Financial Sector Master Plan to increase competition in Thailand’s financial system.
Thailand has 15 local commercial banks led by Bangkok Bank with total assets of $US55 billion. There are also 16 foreign banks with a full branch in Bangkok.
ANZ’s chief executive officer Michael Smith had personally backed the licence bid, meeting with then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in January 2012.
Through opening up of the financial market, Thailand’s Ministry of Finance is looking to boost competition, efficiency and financial access and Thailand’s international trade given moves to further regional deregulation.
ANZ’s new licence in Thailand expands the bank’s network across Asia, especially in South East Asia where the group has a presence in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and more recently in Myanmar.
It adds to the traditional centres of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea and China.
It comes ahead of the launch of The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community in 2015, aimed at further integrating the region’s economies into a single market and production base.