Mike Smith, chief executive of ANZ, on Thursday said that the Australian bank hoped to complete further opportunistic acquisitions next year as struggling European and US financial services groups are forced to divest assets in Asia.

ANZ has agreed two deals recently. Last month it paid A$1.76bn (US$1.6bn) to buy ING’s 51 per cent stake in their wealth management and insurance joint venture in Australia and New Zealand. In August it bought Royal Bank of Scotland’s operations in six Asian countries for $550m.