Australia’s ANZ Sells Pension Business to IOOF for $766 Million

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd has sold its pension unit to IOOF Holdings for A$975 million ($766 million), joining the rush of Australian banks quitting non-core and scandal-hit divisions to boost capital.

The deal fell short of a total exit of ANZ’s insurance and wealth management operations which the bank had flagged a year earlier, and which had been expected to fetch about A$4 billion.

But Atlas Funds Management chief investment officer David Hugh, who owns ANZ shares, said it meant the bank could now focus again on its core lending business after decades of expansion into “capital-light wealth management”.

Read more @The New York Times