ANZ Bank to Cut About 30 Jobs in Institutional Banking Division

(Bloomberg) -- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia’s third-biggest bank by market value, is cutting about 30 jobs in its institutional banking unit.

The affected positions are based in New York, London and Asia, and are mostly in customer relationship roles, ANZ Bank spokesman Stephen Ries said in an emailed statement.

“We continue to reshape our network by simplifying our business and reducing low returning assets," Ries said. Improving productivity is “an important part of managing the business in a low growth environment.”

Australia’s most Asia-focused lender is in the process of restructuring its operations and shrinking its Asian businesses. The region has dragged down return on equity, a measure of how efficiently it deploys shareholder funds, and contributed to the decision to cut dividends in May for the first time since 2009.

ANZ last month said it had reduced its Singapore headcount by about 300 from a year ago, but remained committed to having an institutional banking presence across 14 Asian countries, with Singapore one of two main hubs.

The bank will report full-year results Nov. 3.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emily Cadman in Sydney at ecadman2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe