Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) Chief Executive Ian Narev announced on Thursday the bank plans to expand further to Asia, considered the world's fastest-growing region.

Mr Narev, in the company's market briefing, disclosed the bank's planned foray to China and expansion to Indonesia. CBA will focus on loans to small businesses and wealth management for rich Indonesians.

CBA has a branch in Shanghai and will apply for a branch licence in Beijing as it aims to boost yuan transactions and project financial deals. Besides opening branches, CBA has the Bank of Communications, Bank of Hangzhou and Qilu Bank as its partners.

The Aussie lender plans to increase participation in a Chinese scheme, called county banking, which aims to grow China's regional and rural areas.

For Indonesia, CBA plans to add more retail branches to its existing 80, subject to approval by the Indonesian central bank. Mr Narev pointed that the southeast Asian nation has a population of 280 people and with a 6 to 7 per cent gross domestic product growth rate.

The new strategy is a change from CBA's previous stand to veer from overseas expansion, while competitor ANZ is expanding rapidly in Asia, NAB is in the U.S. and Britain, and Westpac is on the verge of securing a banking licence in India.

"The other thing I think that is important to note in Indonesia, and also in China, is that we have got to be a little bit careful about assumptions that as these economies grow quickly they are going to follow the same trajectory on business distribution models as we have, and it may be that they leap-frog," The Australian quoted Mr Narev said.

"We are reasonably flexible and outward-looking about how we build out the branch network. But at the levels I am talking about, we are very comfortable there is a lot more we can do," he added.

Mr Narev replaced Ralph Norris in December 2011. Analyst saw in his market briefing commitment to CBA's strengths which are technology, productivity and a strong balance sheet.

"The last thing we want to be doing in an institution that we're managing for the long-term is start doing unnatural things in an (changed) environment because we put some number out there two or three years ago," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted the CBA executive.

CBA offers real-time banking for its more than 11 million customers spread in 1,150 plus branches. It claims to have the largest ATM network and leading online Web sites and banking platforms, ranked first for financial services and fourth overall.

As proof of CBA's long-term commitment to the community and Australia, Mr Narev cited that the bank has 2 million home loan borrowers, 4.3 million credit card holders, 500,000 personal loan borrowers, 11 million retail saving and transaction accounts and employs 52,000 people. He added the bank is not considering offshoring tasks unlike its competitors.

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