ANZ has started the new year in much the same way it spent the old one, offloading assets and bolstering its capital.
The lender has agreed to sell its 20 per cent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank to COSCO and Sino-Poland Enterprise for $1.84 billion, with the proceeds set to increase ANZ's common equity tier one capital ratio by about 40 basis points.
With the previously announced sale of retail and wealth management businesses in five Asian countries to Singapore's DBS Bank set to add as much as another 20 basis points, ANZ's tier one capital ratio is set to pass National Australia Bank's 9.8 and become the highest of the big four banks.
"The sale reflects our strategy to simplify our business and improve capital efficiency," ANZ deputy chief executive Graham Hodges said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The sale will also allow us to focus our resources on our institutional banking business in Asia."
ANZ, which is reviewing the future of its Australian wealth division with divestment among its possible options, said it expects the sale of the SRCB stake to be completed by the middle of 2017.
ANZ said the sale price represents a 10 per cent premium on the value of SRCB's net assets at December 2015.
Shares in the bank, which also sold its Esanda Dealer Finance portfolio to Macquarie Group last year, closed 52 cents, or 1.71 per cent higher, at $30.94.
