ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft has urged banks involved in manipulation of the bank bill swap rate to "plead guilty", ABC News reports. Speaking at a Senate Estimates Economics Committee hearing yesterday, Medcraft said ASIC's investigation intyo the issue was at an advanced stage and it was prepared to do things "the hard way". ANZ will abandon its target for earnings growth in Asia under a strategy being developed by the bank's new chief executive Shayne Elliott that may also include selling minority stakes in Asian banks, the Australian Financial Review reports. Elliott said some Asian countries have become hostile to the presence of foreign banks in their markets since the financial crisis. "In hindsight, we should have done it differently," Elliott said. A new generation of Australian banknotes will be issued from September, featuring a different species of Australian wattle for each denomination. The Reserve Bank marked the occasion of the 50th anniversary of decimal currency yesterday by announcing the release of the new notes, which will have a range of new security features. Key features of existing notes, including the colour, size and people portrayed on each denomination, will be retained.