Back to: Corporate governance

Strengthening the financial capabilities of all Australians is about providing the products and services to allow all members of the community access to finance. It is also about promoting the right skills and tools to manage money and increase financial literacy.

As a bank, Westpac has a role to play in assisting consumers to manage their money productively. We've developed Financial First Steps, a course to enable consumers, particularly young people to gain basic money management training.

Over 850 employees are now trained as facilitators of Financial First Steps. Over 1,300 financial literacy workshops have been held since it was developed. The workshop has also been re-produced as a self-paced CD Rom.

Further information about Financial First Steps can be downloaded here:
Financial First Steps case study (PDF 1.01Mb)
Financial First Steps case study (RTF 31kb)


For our business customers, we provide the 'Beyond Survival' course, a practical two-day workshop on improving the financial management of any small or medium-sized business.
Westpac also provides the 'Let's Talk about your banking needs' to help customers decide options that best suit them for self-service banking.

Young people can also get financial tips by downloading the "To the Max" comic from the Australian Securities & Investment Commission's FIDO web site.

Interested in learning more about managing your money? The Australian Government is undertaking an information campaign on financial literacy and money management.