EX-StanChart China credit exec to join ANZ

SHANGHAI, March 17 - Former Standard Chartered China Chief Credit Officer Frankie Chow has agreed to join Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd , said two sources with direct knowledge of the appointment.

Asia-focused Standard Chartered announced Chow's resignation in an internal email to its China staff on Tuesday without saying where Chow will move.

But the sources told Reuters that Chow will join ANZ for a senior position in China.

The move will make Chow the second senior Standard Chartered banker in China to join its rival ANZ after Christine Ip, former head of consumer banking for Standard Chartered in China, decided to join ANZ as its new China chief executive early this year.

"This year, ANZ has become very aggressive in China in grabbing talent from rival banks," one source said.

"First, ANZ got Christine Ip and now Frankie Chow. If you go to ANZ offices in China, I am sure you will find many familiar faces who are former bankers of Standard Chartered or HSBC," he added.

ANZ, headed by Michael Smith, the former Hong Kong-based Asia chief of HSBC Holdings Plc, has said it will expand headcount in Asia this year.

Chow's last job at Standard Chartered was chief credit officer for Hong Kong and Japan, based in Hong Kong.

But he is better known for his position as a top China executive, based in Shanghai, in charge of approvals for Standard Chartered's loans and deposits.

Both Standard Chartered and ANZ have ambitious expansion plans in China. Standard Chartered said on Tuesday it has no plans for job cuts and will continue to focus on organic growth while eyeing acquisition opportunities in key markets including Asia, Africa and the Middle East. [ID:nSEO322947]

Standard Chartered declined to comment while a spokesman for ANZ could not be immediately reached for comment.

ANZ plans to set up a locally incorporated banking unit in China to accelerate its expansion despite the global financial crisis, people with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters last week. [ID:nHKG162243]

ANZ currently owns branches in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as a representative office in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou near Hong Kong.

ANZ also owns 20 percent of Tianjin City Commercial Bank through strategic partnerships, and 20 percent of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank in China's financial hub where ANZ's China headquarters is based.

(Reuters)