Complete the picture for your security

All banks have their own Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML CTF) program.

Much of the information we hold about you will be stored electronically in secure data centres located in Australia. We also store information in other Westpac Group secure data centres or the data centres of our contracted service providers (including cloud storage providers), and some of these data centres may be located outside Australia.  We use a range of physical, electronic, and other security measures to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of the personal information we hold both in Australia and overseas.

For more information, please go to our Privacy policy.

Westpac takes the protection of its customer information and confidential information very seriously. We have rigorous security measures in place that protect the privacy and confidentiality of our customers, including industry best practice security and fraud detection techniques. We also constantly monitor the environment for emerging cyber threats, security issues and potential vulnerabilities across the Westpac Group.

We understand you need time to provide your details and we will provide this. However, if you do not provide the required details in a reasonable time, we may restrict your account until you confirm that your details are still correct and complete.

If visiting a branch don’t forget to bring at least 2 forms of identification such as:

• Valid Australian Drivers licence
• Medicare card
• Passport
• Australian Birth Certificate 
• Foreign Passport issued by a foreign government 

For other forms of valid identification see our how to verify my identity.

In most cases customers will be requested to confirm the details we have on them are still correct and not out of date.

For some of our customers, at the time the initial account was set up, certain details may not have been requested or captured so we will need them to update those details with us.

We are required to capture the following information for all of our customers. You will be requested to verify, update, or provide any missing details.

The information captured on customers is:

1. Name
2. Date of Birth
3. Address
4. Phone
5. Email
6. ID Doc 1 (eg. Valid Aust driver license)
7. ID Doc 2 (eg. Valid Passport, Birth certificate, Medicare) 
8. Employment type (eg. full time, part time)
9. Occupation category (eg. Finance, Mining)
10. Occupation (eg. Sales, Nursing)
11. Sources of income (eg. Salary, pension)
12. Source of wealth (eg. Long term savings, Inheritance, rental property)
13. Purpose of business relationship (eg. Savings, everyday transaction account)
14. Tax residency country (eg. US citizen)
15. Foreign tax number (applicable if you are taxed by foreign country)

Please, have a look at our how to verify your identity information to help you decide what you need to bring with you for identification.

There is a checklist included in the page which provides you a list of possible identification you can use.

As a bank we must understand the funds customers have with us and the source of their wealth.

As an example, your source of income could be your pay or pension.

Source of wealth though could be inheritance, savings over time, or property.

AUSTRAC has more information about the importance of understanding sources of wealth.

Both account holders will receive communication and must complete the request. If only one of you completes the process, both account holders will be restricted in accessing any shared accounts.

This step identifies and verifies you are the customer. We will only ask you for personal information when you have signed in to your Online Banking securely by visiting westpac.com.au or using the mobile banking app, and not directly via a link in an SMS or email.

In most cases we’ll have the information and you’ll be confirming the details we have are still correct or up to date.  

For some customers who may have set up their account with us before the legislation came into effect, we may not have all the required customer information and we will need to get this from you.

When we send an email, letter, or SMS, we never include links that lead directly to sign in pages, or to pages that ask you to enter personal or financial information.

We will never ask you to reply to an email to confirm or update your details.

The instructions from us will always be to sign in to your online banking, or via your banking app and from there you will be taken through next steps, either through messages/inbox or prompted when doing your banking. This ensures your details remain secure.

You can complete the request online or via the mobile app.

For help on to download the app go to: Westpac.com.au/mobilebanking

For help on how to register for online banking: Westpac.com.au/register

Identity theft is when someone gets enough of your personal information to steal your identity for personal or financial gain. Lost personal information also leaves you more susceptible to future scams or fraud, as stolen personal information is often sold illegally.

For more information on how to stay safe, check out the information and tools available to you.

When we have up to date personal details for you it helps us to identify any changes in the use of your accounts. It also helps us detect if someone is pretending to be you to access or use your accounts. By providing your details we can contact you easily to alert you if we notice suspicious activities.