ANZ: no RBS China buy without retail licences

SYDNEY, June 18 (Reuters) - Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) was not interested in buying the China operations of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) unless retail banking licences are included, its chief executive was quoted as saying in an interview published on Thursday.

Mike Smith also told the Australian Financial Review newspaper during a visit to western China that the bank plans to have 50 branches in China within five years, more than double its previous target.

ANZ would not be interested in the RBS China assets if RBS went ahead with a plan to split investment and retail banking operations in China, Smith told the paper, adding however that "assets in China, Indochina and Southeast Asia would be a perfect fit."

RBS, 70 percent owned by the British government, is selling its Asian assets as it pulls back to core markets. The sale includes 13 branches in China.

ANZ is making an aggressive push into Asia and said in March that it planned to have 20 branches in China by 2012. But Smith told the paper he was very positive about the Chinese economy, and planned to target Chinese and foreign companies that operate in Australia and New Zealand as well as the affluent end of the retail market.

"I am not really interested in the mass market, I don't think we can play that," Smith was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Jonathan Standing)