The drama around ANZ's lending activities to margin lending stock brokers deepened overnight when Danish bank Saxo pulled out of its plan to buy 35% of Tricom, the broker that got into trouble earlier in 2007. See an article here in The Australian. ANZ and the cash-constrained Babcock and Brown are now expected to have to bail out Tricom, Australian news outlets report. The news is bad for ANZ Chairman Charles Goode, who has faced growing calls for him to resign in recent days after an inquiry uncovered significant shortcomings in the bank's risk management of lending to margin lending brokers and stock equity financiers, including Opes Prime. Several executives have been sacked, but commentators have started saying the lax controls were created under Goode's watch as chairman and before the arrival of current CEO Mike Smith.
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