Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) has been granted approval for a securities license in Japan by the Financial Services Agency (FSA).

The bank is seeking to expand its institutional business in Japan, and leverage its existing presence in the Japanese market. ANZ is the only Australian bank with the securities license, which will allow it to sell Australian, New Zealand and Asian bonds, as well as structured notes, repurchase agreements (repos), and other securities products to Japanese investors.

The license will operate under the name of ANZ Securities (Japan) Ltd, and the official launch of business is subject to approval of its membership with the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA). Yuichiro Imaizumi, currently the head of markets, Japan, will take on the role of CEO of ANZ Securities (Japan) Ltd.

'As Australia's second largest trading partner, Japan is an important market for our customers and key to our ambitions to be the best bank for trade and capital flows in the region,' said ANZ International Group Executive, Farhan Faruqui (pictured).

ANZ Japan currently operates under a banking license, which allows the bank to offer FX spot, forward, rates derivatives and commodities-related products. According to SRP, the Australian bank has marketed over 400 FX rate-linked structured deposits in Japan, mainly in the form of cross-, dual-currency and protected tracker plays against the Japanese yen featuring. ANZ is an active provider of structured products across Asia-Pacific markets including Hong Kong (628 products), Singapore (567 products), Taiwan (391 products), China (53 products), and Australia (eight products).

Japan's market is largely dominated by domestic providers which have no structured products activities outside of Japan, including Mitsubishi UFJ (41% market share), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (10%), Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings (8%), Mizuho Financial (7%) and Okasan Securities (6%). However, foreign providers have a significant presence in the market as bond providers including Kommuninvest i Sverige (16% market share YTD), Kommunalbanken (14%), Municipality Finance (10%), Morgan Stanley (9%), and HSBC Bank (7%).

In the summer of 2017, Natixis which operates as a wholesale bank in Japan moved to expand its presence in Japan, with the aim to increase its presence and coverage of institutional investors, such as banks, asset managers, securities companies, and pension funds. However, ANZ saw Dominique Blanchard, global head of sales and debt capital markets, moving to Credit Agricole at the end of April.

ANZ said in its 2017 annual results that it has agreed to sell its retail and wealth businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia to Singapore's DBS Bank which saw its net profit rose 26%, year-on-year, to a record high of SG$1.5bn (US$1.12bn) in the first quarter of 2018. DBS issued 694 structured products worth US$2.5bn in Apac, compared to 430 structured products worth US$1.3bn in the same period last year, according to SRP data.

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