The Pacific’s geographical isolation and its lagging development are probably two factors that could save the region from the effects of the global credit crunch.

And the ANZ bank is optimistic that in the next four years it will be able to secure 50 percent of the banking market in the region.

“We would say that one of the benefits of the Pacific is that, from the bankers’ point of view, it is not as exposed to wholesale borrowings globally than some of our other western economies are,” ANZ managing director Pacific, Craig Sims said.

“In simpler terms, it means that we lend based on the deposits we receive from our customers whether they be personal, corporate or government. That is the driver of our business and therefore that shields ANZ and the Pacific countries from some of the extremities currently experienced globally.

“Going forward, naturally there will be some impact if the world slows. ANZ has been around for 130 years, we have seen some events globally and locally and we have been able to make our way through it.”

Sims, a New Zealander, was in Fiji recently with his regional managers to launch ANZ’s growth strategy, where ultimately ANZ wants to be the number one bank in the Pacific.

“The strategy we are launching today is all about building our core strength in the region and bringing key decision-making closer to our customers.

“We have begun to decentralise our operation in Melbourne to get our people closer to our customers. This means we are putting more jobs in the region.

“Over the past year, we have created 200 jobs across the Pacific and our strategy for growth to 2012 will create even more jobs in the region.

“Financial markets around the world have experienced unprecedented turbulence in the past few months and no part of the world is immune. However, we are confident that our business is in a position to achieve our goals.

“We see strong growth opportunities across the region, particularly in those countries with high levels of natural resources and tourism. We also see good prospects in both the retail and corporate markets, Sims said.

“Over the past decade, Asia’s total trade with the Pacific has risen by an average of more than 15 percent per annum. ANZ can play a pivotal role in facilitating and marketing that cross-border trade for the benefit of the whole region to enable better access to international markets and bring more sophisticated products to address the increasing requirements of our retail and business customers.

“Over the past two years, we have been investing heavily in infrastructure across the Pacific which has provided us with greater branch representations, state-of-the art scalable technology and efficient operations and processes. Now we are ready to take our business to the next level, for the benefit of our people, customers and the Pacific community,” Sims said.

Part of the strategy will include the localisation of positions. According to Sims, as much as 2000 jobs will be created from ANZ’s new direction.

ANZ’s Pacific business will be reorganised into four sub-regions—North-West (Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Solomon Islands); Central (Fiji, Kiribati and Quest), South-East (Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands) and American Territories (Guam and American Samoa).

Sims, who has an extensive background in small and medium entreprises, said ANZ will focus more on new sectors such as SMEs and look at ways of improving transactions of remittances.

Meanwhile, the announcement by the Australian and New Zealand governments to guarantee deposits in their banks will benefit all ANZ branches.

Sims said details of the guarantee have not been announced yet but he expects all ANZ branches to benefit.

ANZ increased its profit in its Pacific business by 11 percent for the financial year ending September 30, 2008 recording a profit of A$133milion.

“This is a good result based on the underlying strength of a number of Pacific economies and market share gains in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. This year’s result provides a foundation for ANZ to continue to invest in the Pacific to deliver on the growth strategy we announced.

“ANZ’s balance sheet remains strong, with a strong capital position and a significantly increased liquidity over the past year,” Sims said.