Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited ANZ and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited OCBC of Singapore have agreed to withdraw from their joint venture to develop a stand-alone internet bank in Asia.
The announcement follows six months of detailed work on the business model, which indicated that financial returns were not sufficiently compelling given market entry costs and a softer economic environment. The venture was announced in July and would have seen the two banks investing $100 million over three years to create an entity offering a range of online financial services and related lifestyle products including shopping, travel and entertainment.
The JV has spent approximately 20% of the projects total investment,...
