ANZ has moved to clear at least some of the air over its share disposal program resulting from the collapse of Opes Prime, releasing a schedule of affected listed companies and declaring that it intends lodging substantial holding notices as soon as practicable.
The bank’s announcement came at the same time it acknowledged that it has increased its provision for bad debts to close to a billion dollars for the half-year.
It said the bank expected its total provision charge for credit impairment (including collective provisions) to be in the vicinity of $975 million for the six months ended March 31.
Dealing with the Opes Prime issue, ANZ said although there was some uncertainty as to whether the bank had a legal obligation to do so, it intended to lodge a substantial holding notice in relation to each of the companies identified in the schedule it published with the ASX today.
It said the substantial holding notices would also include details of shares in which ANZ Group had a relevant interest and of any shares that it holds as a result of securities lending arrangements entered into with other market participants.
Only one financial services company appeared to be named in the schedule released by ANZ today — platform technology provider Praemium.
