According to The New Zealand Herald, ANZ is pursuing negotiations to take over and buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail and commercial banking units in five Asian countries.

ANZ has its sources set on the units in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The selling process would be participated by ANZ, along with HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered, as the Royal Bank of Scotland is pulling back its core market.

RBS plans to make an exit from 36 of its current operations, after posting a record loss last year. It is 70% owned by the UK government. 

The acquisition by ANZ could be a good option, as they look to grow their business in Asia, according to Market analyst Ross Cuthbert.

According to the newspaper, ANZ's CEO Michael Smith is aiming at increasing the proportion of income from Asia to 20%, as bad loans in its domestic markets squeeze profit.

In May, ANZ reportedly sold $AU2.5 billion of shares to fund the bid.

Standard Chartered is looking to take over in RBS' businesses in China, India and Malaysia.