Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) is confident on its bid for some of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's (RBS) Asian assets, but if the bank isn't successful there are significant alternatives for growth, Chief Executive Mike Smith said Thursday.

"There are quite significant (acquisition opportunities) coming up in Asia, but I also think there are opportunities in Australia," Smith told journalists after a business lunch in Melbourne.

ANZ Wednesday raised A$2.5 billion through an institutional share placement to help it fund potential acquisitions, and to boost its capital position to cushion against slowing economic conditions and escalating bad debts. ANZ confirmed it had lodged a bid for some of RBS's Asian assets.

RBS is considering a sale of its retail and commercial banking operations in India, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, as it focusses its attention on its home market.

Smith said he had seen reports that HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) and Standard Chartered PLC (2888.HK) hadn't submitted bids for RBS' Asian assets but he had no knowledge on the matter, which he said was for RBS to comment on.

A person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday that RBS is still talking to HSBC and Standard Chartered, and while not all parties hadn't yet submitted bids, that didn't mean talks had broken off.

Smith declined to say which RBS assets ANZ is bidding for, but he said if successful the bank expects a deal that would be earnings per share accretive in around three years.

Smith, a former senior HSBC executive, aims to transform Melbourne-based ANZ - currently Australia's fourth-largest bank by market capitalization - into a "super regional" bank, and aims to generate around 20% of the bank's earnings from Asia by 2012.

The bank has said it is recording solid organic growth in Asia, but analysts believe the group will have to make acquisitions to achieve its long-term targets.

Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note that ANZ could pay A$1 billion-A$2 billion for the assets it wants, but the size of any deal would depend on how many bids RBS receives.

"ANZ's decision to raise equity before finalizing the purchase of any Asian assets is in some ways surprising, however we do believe it places ANZ at a funding advantage in the race to acquire RBS's assets," Merrill Lynch said.

Asked why the bank had raised capital without having a certain deal, Smith said he was "very confident there will be a few opportunities and we need to be prepared."

He declined to rule out another tilt at the banking arm of Australian financial services company Suncorp-Metway Ltd. (SUN.AU) and said he was not relieved that a previous offer for Suncorp's banking arm was rejected.

"I've said we're always interested in opportunities, but that depends how they feel," he said.

While bad debts are rising, and remain hard to predict in the commercial sector, ANZ has not seen any significant deterioration in its consumer portfolio.

The bank said Wednesday that it expects charges for bad debts in second half to be up around 20% from the A$1.44 billion recorded in the six months to March 31.

Smith reiterated his view that Australia should abandon its so-called "four pillars" policy, which prohibits mergers between the nation's four largest banks.

He also said he expects ANZ will receive a banking license to operate in India soon.

He told the lunch that the global economy is yet to bottom despite early signs of stabilizing global financial markets. "I think we're now beginning to see some early positive signs that the global financial system is, at last, beginning to stabilize," he said

"Nevertheless, global economic activity is expected to fall by 1.3% this year, its first fall in 60 years. And despite the recent rally in global equity markets, the harsh reality is there's no evidence that the world economy has bottomed out," he said.

Smith also said that the era of cheap money is over and that the cost of borrowing remains high.

"Even here in Australia, the cost of borrowing, even for AA-rated banks like ANZ, remains high and very different to the overnight cash rates set by the RBA," he said.

-By Lyndal McFarland, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2093; lyndal.mcfarland@dowjones.com

(Iain McDonald in Sydney contributed to this article)