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A brief overview of Westpac Banking Corporation

• Westpac began trading on 8 April, 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales with a single office in Macquarie Place, Sydney, in the then British colony of New South Wales. In conjunction with the merger with the Commercial Bank of Australia, it changed its name to Westpac Banking Corporation in 1982. Find out more about our proud history
• Westpac merged with Challenge Bank in Western Australia in 1995, Trust Bank in New Zealand in 1996 and Bank of Melbourne in Victoria in 1997.
• Westpac has branches and affiliates throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region and maintains offices in key financial centres around the world including London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
• As at 31 March 2008 the Westpac Group employed approximately 29,000 people in Australia, New Zealand and around the world.
• As at 31 March 2008, Westpac Banking Corporation had global assets of $402 billion.
• Westpac is ranked in the top 10 listed companies by market capitalisation on the Australian Securities Exchange Limited (ASX).
• For the 6 months to 31 March 2008, the Westpac Group's net profit after income tax was $2,202 million.
• About 360,000 people and institutions in Australia and overseas are shareholders in Westpac.
• Westpac concentrates its activities in Australia, New Zealand and the near Pacific.

• Consumer Financial Services is responsible for sales, services and product development for our consumer customers across Australia and manages third party consumer product relationships and the retail branch operations in Hong Kong and Singapore
• Business Financial Services is responsible for sales, service and product development for small and medium sized business customers in Australia. It also has responsibility for group-wide working capital and specialised trade solutions operations and the management of our third party business product relationships.
• BT Financial Group Australia comprises our asset accumulation, investment management and life insurance operations in Australia. Wealth Management designs, manufactures and services financial products to enable customers to build, manage and protect their wealth. These products include managed investments (mutual funds), superannuation (pensions), life insurance, income protection, discount securities broking, margin lending, client portfolio administration (Wrap) platforms and portfolio management and administration of corporate superannuation. We also provide custody and settlement services to institutional customers and fund managers.
• Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB) provides financial services to the corporate and institutional customer base, assisting and advising in the management of cash, funding, capital and market risk for companies and institutions in Australia and New Zealand.
• New Zealand Banking provides a full range of retail and commercial services to customers throughout New Zealand. It is the leading provider of banking services to small to medium business and is the banker of the New Zealand government.
• Pacific Banking provides a full range of deposit, loan, transaction account and international trade facilities to business and personal customers.

• Read through our latest Annual Report
• Have a flick through our briefings and presentations made to the market
• View our recent media releases