ANZ INCREASES LEVERAGE ON MARGIN LOANS
ANZ Bank later this week will begin promotions for a "diversified margin loan", which the media alert advises will offer "twice as much choice and higher leverage, with over 1,000 ASX listed shares."The bank will also increase acceptable loan to valuation ratio to "a market-leading rate of up to 20 per cent higher than the industry average."ANZ will explain the product in more detail in a briefing on Wednesday.Meanwhile the Financial Review quotes ANZ Bank managing director John McFarlane musing on the future of the bank's fund management joint venture with ING, and which trades as ING Australia. ANZ owns 49 per cent of this business."It's fair to say if we went one way or another, we'd be more likely to be a buyer," McFarlane told the newspaper.However, ING Australia chief executive Paul Bedbrook said, "From ING's perspective, we're a cash cow."ANZ and ING revealed in a briefing earlier this year that the ING Australia joint venture failed to meet profit targets.