Westpac CEO's customer email: strengthening scam defences and regional presence

Anthony Miller
09:30am April 22 2025

Westpac CEO Anthony Miller discusses the bank's commitment to scam protection and boosting regional banking in his first email to customers. 

Dear Customer,

It is a pleasure to write to you for the first time as the new CEO of Westpac. Thank you for choosing to bank with us. 

I want to make sure that you, your family and your business can always count on us. At Westpac we have a dedicated team across the country assisting you every day. We’re privileged to serve you and continue our long-standing 200-year history of helping customers.

We understand that the high cost of living has been challenging over the past few years. While I hope the recent full mortgage interest rate reduction provided relief for many, we're committed to supporting all our customers. If you're feeling financial pressure, we're here to help.

Another layer of scam and fraud defence

Fraud and scams continue to have a devastating impact on people’s lives. That’s why we’re continuing to invest significantly in scam detection and prevention. 

We’re introducing Westpac SafeBlock, a new feature that allows customers to immediately block access when they suspect unauthorised access to their accounts. 

Coming this year to the Westpac App and Online Banking, this added layer of protection against criminals has been designed to provide you with peace of mind that your money is safe. 

By activating SafeBlock, new transactions, including card payments, transfers, and ATM withdrawals, will be blocked, to help prevent unwanted parties causing potential financial loss. To find out more about what will and won’t be stopped, visit westpac.com.au/safeblock 

Westpac SafeBlock is the next layer of our defence features, which include:

• Westpac SafeCall, allowing us to call you through the Westpac App so you know it’s us and why we’re calling, verified by Optus;
• Westpac SaferPay, which presents a series of questions in instances where a payment is considered a high risk of being a scam; and
• Westpac Verify, alerting you when there is a potential account name mismatch when you’re adding a new payee using BSB and account numbers. 

Backing regional Australia

While most customers are choosing to bank digitally, we recognise the need for face-to-face service is important, especially in regional and remote communities. 

That’s why we’re investing in new Regional Service Centres to deliver local, in-person banking for customers in these areas. We are launching three new service centres in Moree, Smithton and Leongatha. We will bring this new model to a number of additional regional locations.

To support growth outside of Australia’s capital cities, the bank will also add 150 new business bankers across its regional network over the next three years. 

We’re here to help

If you need to talk to our team or discuss your financial situation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can call us call us via the App for a faster and more secure experience or visit our local branch. 

Further information about financial hardship support can be found at westpac.com.au/assist.

Thank you again for choosing Westpac.

Anthony

Anthony Miller

Anthony is Westpac Group’s Chief Executive Officer, appointed in December 2024. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive, Business & Wealth since August 2023, following three years as Chief Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank. Before joining Westpac in October 2020, Anthony was CEO of Australia & New Zealand and Co-Head of Investment Bank, Asia Pacific at Deutsche Bank from 2017. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Anthony was a partner at Goldman Sachs, having joined the organisation in 2001.

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