WESTPAC
Westpac is one of the 4 major banks in Australia –known as the 4 pillars for the financial system.
It delivers banking, financial and related services and is divided into 3 major customer divisions:
1. Australian Financial Services AFS
Retail & Business Banking (6.1 million customers)
St George Bank
BT Financial Group Australia
RAMS Home Loans ¡Private Banking
2. Westpac Institutional Bank WIB
3. New Zealand Banking
Westpac is one of the 4 major banks in Australia –known as the 4 pillars for the financial system.
It delivers banking, financial and related services and is divided into 3 major customer divisions:
1. Australian Financial Services AFS
Retail & Business Banking (6.1 million customers)
St George Bank
BT Financial Group Australia
RAMS Home Loans ¡Private Banking
2. Westpac Institutional Bank WIB
3. New Zealand Banking
WESTPAC'S LOGO
- Westpac’s logo was refined when Australia’s first bank, the Bank of NSW, merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia and became Westpac in 1982.
- It was designed to identify the organization and illustrate Westpac’s intended branding message in a way that words alone could not convey.
- It is a very functional logo in that the W
- is part of the Westpac name.
- My mother is the person who originally placed all the Westpac logos behind all the spots where TV stations did interviews of economists and executives. This further imprinted the brand.
HISTORY OF WESTPAC
The 1900s
- Westpac has a long and proud history as Australia's first and oldest bank. ¡Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales under a charter of incorporation provided by Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
- In October 1982 it changed its name to Westpac Banking Corporation following the acquisition of the Commercial Bank of Australia.
- The first employee was Joseph Hyde Potts. As a porter and servant, he received a weekly ration from the King's stores and an annual salary of 25 pounds.
- This was a challenging time, beginning with a serious loss in 1821 when it was discovered that the Bank of NSW's Chief Cashier had stolen half its subscribed capital, none of which was ever recovered.
- The Bank's major expansion began in response to the gold fever in 1851 when it saw an opportunity to set up gold-buying agents in response to the needs of miners and merchants. It had grown from a single office in Sydney to a network of 37 branches by 1861.
The 1900s
- The crash of the New York stock market on Black Thursday, 24 October 1929 signaled the start of the depression in the international market. The first significant sign of this in Australia came in January of that year, when Alfred Charles Davidson became general manager. Davidson advocated a bold initiative to adjust the exchange rate on London downwards from par to £A130 = £100stg in 1931. This helped soften the impact of the depression on Australia and spark the ailing economy into recovery.
- Following the acquisition of the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982 the Bank of NSW changed its name to Westpac and then expanded rapidly in the 1980s.
- However, as a result of the economic downturn at the end of the decade, Westpac declared a loss of $1.6 billion for the financial year ended 30 September 1992. This collapse of Westpac almost broke the Australian economy. Had the Reserve Bank not bailed Westpac out, all 4 major banks would have collapsed.
- From
1993 to 1999, under the leadership of Robert (Bob) Joss, Westpac underwent a
substantial rejuvenation program and then instigated a number of acquisitions
in Australia and New Zealand to expand its retail footprint in markets where it
was underweight, acquiring: Challenge
Bank Limited, Western Australia in 1995; Trust
Bank New Zealand in 1996; Bank of Melbourne in 1997.
- Westpac began the new century as a principal sponsor of the very successful Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
- In 2002, the bank began a strategic reshaping commencing with the sale of its longstanding iconic finance company, Australian Guarantee Corporation Limited (AGC) to GE Australia.
- In the same year, Westpac began to expand its wealth management business with the acquisition of: Rothschild Australia Asset Management; Parts of BT Financial Group; 51% of Hastings Funds Management Limited, moving to 100% ownership in 2005.
- In 2008 Westpac merged with St. George Bank Limited, resulting in a much larger multi-brand Group.