Important information for customers with business or equipment finance contracts of $1,000,000 or less
Are you a business customer who entered into, renewed or varied a business finance contract or equipment finance contract of $1,000,000 or less from 12 November 2016 to 15 July 2025? If so, the changes below apply to your contract.
What is changing and what does it mean for you?
We have a strong commitment to supporting businesses and improving the way we do things. With this in mind, we’re strengthening protections under some business finance contracts and equipment finance contracts, to make them more favourable for our business and equipment finance customers. This has been done in consultation with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.
The changes below apply to business finance contracts and equipment finance contracts entered into, renewed or varied between 12 November 2016 and 15 July 2025 (including renewals and extensions that occur automatically when you retain goods after the end of your equipment finance contract).
The changes took effect from 10 November 2017 for business finance contracts and from 22 December 2017 for equipment finance contracts. This notice describes the changes.
This notice is in 3 parts:
Part A: | changes affecting business finance contracts including specialised finance contracts |
Part B: | changes affecting only specialised finance contracts |
Part C: | changes affecting only equipment finance contracts |
The meaning of terms printed like this is explained in the last tab below |
Is there anything you need to do? No – you automatically receive the benefit of the changes described in this notice without the need for any update to your terms and conditions (so you won’t receive new terms).
We’re here to help If you have any concerns or questions about your small business financing arrangements, please contact your Relationship Manager or call 132 142, Monday to Friday 8:00am – 8:00pm. |
Changes affecting business finance contracts including specialised finance contracts.
What's changing?
Entire agreement clauses | We won’t rely on clauses that limit our agreement with you to the written finance contract. This means statements we make to you (in writing or otherwise) can form part of our agreement. |
General indemnity clauses | If something goes wrong, we're limiting the kinds of loss we’ll ask you to cover. We’ll:
|
Unilateral variation clauses | We’ll reduce our reliance on unilateral variation clauses. These are clauses that allow us to make changes to your finance contract at any time, without your agreement. Invoice finance contracts are an exception – see Part B for details.
Changes we can make Sometimes we need to make changes for reasons outside our control (see below). We can also still make changes to financial terms such as margins, interest rates, payments, repayments, fees and charges (including introducing new ones), how we calculate financial terms and when we charge them. We need to be able to do this at any time in the normal course of our business. We used to have broad rights to change other terms for any reason. However, we’ll now only make changes to your other terms if:
When we make changes, we’ll always act fairly and reasonably towards you in a consistent and ethical manner.
Notice of changes We’ll generally give you at least 30 days’ notice of changes. Exceptions are:
|
Financial indicator covenants | We won’t require you to comply with any financial indicator covenants in your finance contract. Some examples of financial indicator covenants we won’t rely on include, maintaining a particular loan to security value ratio (LVR) or maintaining a particular interest cover ratio (ICR). However, there are some exceptions for certain specialised finance contracts - see Part B for details. |
What can trigger default | We’ll only require early repayment of facilities provided for an agreed term or take enforcement action against you if one or more of the following occurs (standard defaults). However, if you have a specialised finance contract, some additional defaults will apply – see Part B for details.
because of an event of default (however described) under that arrangement (but only if the event of default is of a type that would be permitted if unfair contract terms laws applied to that arrangement) Of course, if your current arrangements give you more time to rectify something than what is described above, we’ll ensure you’re given that extra time. |
How does this notice affect “at call” facilities? |
---|
Some facilities such as overdrafts or lines of credit are repayable “at call” or “on demand” which means we can ask you to repay them at any time. Other arrangements, including an invoice finance contract, can be terminated at any time by providing the agreed period of notice. This will continue to be the case. Bailment contracts are also “at call” facilities. Under a bailment contract we can do a number of things at any time, including ask for repayment, require you to return bailed goods or take possession of bailed goods and otherwise act to protect our interest in bailed goods. This will also continue to be the case. If we’ve issued bank guarantees, letters of credit or similar instruments (or endorsed bills of exchange or similar) at your request, our rights in respect of those instruments, including rights to terminate our liability, stop issuing instruments or require reimbursement from you, are not affected by this notice. |
How does this notice affect security documents? |
---|
If we need to enforce our rights under any securities (eg guarantees or mortgages) given to us for your finance contract, we’ll exercise our rights under those securities in a way that is consistent with our commitments described above. However, some securities may secure other arrangements we’ve entered into with you or your guarantors. Our rights under those other arrangements and corresponding supporting securities are not affected by this notice. |
Changes affecting only specialised finance contracts
This Part explains how the changes in Part A affect particular kinds of facilities.
Invoice finance contracts
Financial indicator covenants | We won’t require you to comply with financial indicator covenants in your finance contract. However, this doesn’t affect terms of your invoice finance contract which:
|
Unilateral variation clauses | Our rights to vary your invoice finance contract are not affected by this notice. Please see your invoice finance contract for details of things we can change and the notice you’ll receive. |
What can trigger default | If a right we have under your invoice finance contract can only be exercised following a default (such as a right to terminate the invoice finance contract immediately), we’ll only exercise that right if one or more of the following occurs:
These obligations (other than the standard defaults) are more fully described in your invoice finance contract and you should refer to that agreement for details. |
Finance contracts for property development
Financial indicator covenants | We won’t require you to comply with financial indicator covenants in your finance contract. However, this doesn’t affect your obligations to pay cost overruns (however described) if we determine that the cost to complete the works is more than your remaining available loan funds. |
What can trigger default | We’ll only require early repayment of facilities provided for an agreed term or take enforcement action against you if one or more of the following occurs:
These obligations (other than the standard defaults) are more fully described in your finance contract and you should refer to that agreement for details. |
Finance contracts for an aged care service provider
What can trigger default | We’ll only require early repayment of facilities provided for an agreed term or take enforcement action against you if one or more of the following occurs:
and we reasonably consider this materially increases our security risk or will do so (unless the failure can be rectified and it’s rectified within 30 days after we ask you to do so or any longer period we agree). These obligations (other than the standard defaults) are more fully described in your finance contract and you should refer to that agreement for details. |
Trade finance contracts
Financial indicator covenants | We won’t require you to comply with financial indicator covenants in your finance contract. However, if a facility under your trade finance contract may be drawn in a foreign currency, this doesn’t affect rights we can exercise if your total liabilities under the facilities exceed your facility limit as a result of currency fluctuations. |
What can trigger default | We’ll only require early repayment of a facility provided for an agreed term or take enforcement action against you if one or more of the following occurs:
|
Changes affecting only equipment finance contracts
This Part explains how the changes affect equipment finance contracts
What's changing?
Entire agreement clauses | We won’t rely on clauses that limit our agreement with you to the written equipment finance contract. This means statements we make to you (in writing or otherwise) can form part of our agreement. |
General indemnity clauses | If something goes wrong, we're limiting the kinds of loss we’ll ask you to cover. We’ll:
|
Unilateral variation clauses | We’ll reduce our reliance on unilateral variation clauses. These are clauses that allow us to make changes to your equipment finance contract at any time, without your agreement.
Changes we can make Sometimes we need to make changes for reasons outside our control (see below). We can also still make changes to financial terms such as interest rates, implicit rates, payments, repayments, residual values, termination values, fees and charges (including introducing new ones), how we calculate financial terms and when we charge them. We need to be able to do this at any time in the normal course of our business. We used to have broad rights to change other terms. However, we’ll now only make changes to your other terms if:
When we make changes, we’ll always act fairly and reasonably towards you in a consistent and ethical manner.
Notice of changes We’ll generally give you at least 30 days’ notice of changes. Exceptions are:
|
Financial .indicator covenants | We won’t require you to comply with any financial indicator covenants in your equipment finance contract. An example of a financial indicator covenant we won’t rely on is an obligation to maintain a particular debt service cover ratio (DSCR). |
What can trigger default or repudiation | We can exercise certain rights under your equipment finance contract only after an event of default or after you are taken to have repudiated the contract (eg because you breach an essential term). We’ll only exercise those rights if one or more of the following occurs. However, this doesn’t apply to an EF revolving limit.
because of an event of default (however described) under that arrangement (but only if the event of default is of a type that would be permitted if unfair contract terms laws applied to that arrangement) |
How does this notice affect EF revolving limits, progress payment commercial loans and insurance premium funding? |
---|
This notice doesn’t affect the situations where we can terminate an EF revolving limit. If you have an EF revolving limit, see the terms of that facility for details of when we can do this. If your EF revolving limit is terminated, we’re under no obligation to sign any further loan, lease or hire purchase schedules, for any further goods. However, your existing equipment finance contracts provided in connection with the EF revolving limit will continue. We’ll exercise our rights under progress payment commercial loans and insurance premium funding consistently with our commitments described above. However:
|
How does this notice affect security documents? |
---|
If we need to enforce our rights under any securities (eg guarantees, goods security, general security agreements or mortgages) given to us for your equipment finance contract, we’ll exercise our rights under those securities in a way that is consistent with our commitments described above. However, some securities may secure other arrangements we’ve entered into with you or your guarantors. Our rights under those other arrangements and corresponding supporting securities are not affected by this notice. |
bailment contract | an agreement under which we bail goods (such as motor vehicles) to you, to be sold by you to your customers. |
enforcement proceedings | means a person:
|
equipment finance contract | is our agreement with you under:
|
EF revolving limit | a Westpac equipment finance– revolving limit, provided under a Westpac “Business Finance Agreement” where the total facilities under the Business Finance Agreement are $1,000,000 or less (based on facility limits at the time of the agreement, renewal or variation). The Business Finance Agreement may include facilities in addition to the equipment finance - revolving limit, and this notice doesn’t affect those other facilities. |
finance contract | is our agreement with you under:
where total facilities are $1,000,000 or less (based on facility limits at the date of the agreement, renewal or variation). It does not include derivatives (such as currency and rate swaps), credit card facilities or asset finance facilities (other than bailment). This definition does not cover margin loans. |
general conditions booklet | the Westpac Equipment Finance Memorandum of Common Provisions general conditions booklet and any addendum or schedule which refers to that booklet. |
goods | the goods the subject of your equipment finance contract. |
insolvent | a person is insolvent if:
|
insurance premium funding | a Westpac insurance premium finance – offer to borrow where the total amount financed is $1,000,000 or less at the time of the agreement, renewal or variation. |
invoice finance contract | is our agreement with you under:
in each case, where the total facilities under the ‘pricing agreement’, ‘pricing letter’ or finance contract (as applicable) are $1,000,000 or less (based on facility limits at the date of the agreement, renewal or variation). |
progress payment commercial loan | means our agreement with you under a progress payment commercial loan agreement if the limit of the loan is $1,000,000 or less at the time of the agreement, renewal or variation. |
specialised finance contract | is an invoice finance contract, a trade finance contract, any finance contract for property development and any finance contract with an aged care service provider. |
standard defaults | each of the things described under the heading “what can trigger default” in Part A. |
trade finance contract | is any finance contract which includes:
|