Executive Interview - Gary Johnson - Head of Corporate & Commercial East, BankWest
(14 December 2004 - Australia) Australia’s banking sector has been keeping a watching brief on BankWest ever since British banking giant HBOS bought the remaining shares in the West Australian bank in 2003. A bank backed by an organisation with very deep pockets, expertise in taking on the established players in the UK banking market, and ambition, is being viewed as a serious new player on Australia’s eastern seaboard.
Although BankWest has led the push eastwards with new retail offerings, the bank is currently gearing up for a major assault on the business banking markets. Leading this charge is Gary Johnson, head of BankWest’s Corporate and Commercial business on the east coast. Johnson was previously director of the bank’s Business Express business, which was a national role. During the 1990s he spent two years as Westpac’s regional manager of commercial banking for the Illawarra region, south of Sydney.
Gary Johnson speaks to East & Partners senior consultant Paul Bartholomew.
The business banking market on the east coast has become increasingly competitive and dynamic with a lot of players chasing the same small business and commercial customers. Where do you see the opportunities for BankWest in this market and how confident are you that the bank will be successful?
Our quest to grow on the east coast really started back in April 2002 when we launched Business Express, which was our first bid to go national, with the focus at that stage purely on small business. When we started we conducted a lot of research. It was very clear that small business felt our competitors had stopped listening to them and were too focussed on cost control rather than what they wanted. Business Express focussed on the service side and had considerable success in a relatively short period of time. It’s added close to 6000 new customers over the last two and a half years. That gave us the confidence that if you can offer something different the market will respond positively.
But we are certainly aware that customers suffer from inertia. Your own research shows us that close to 43 percent of SMEs are considering switching yet only about 25 percent will actually shift, so why is that? Well, our belief is that it’s two things: inertia, the hassle factor, which we certainly don’t underestimate. The other one is that business owners have started to see all banks as one, the brands have converged and so we see it as being important to clearly articulate how we are different. HBOS backing gives us the ability to compete in the large SME area and it gives us the capability from a credit point of view to look at more complex and larger credits, so that when our customers grow we can grow with them and be as responsive as needs be.
Research in the SME and commercial market shows that some 70 percent of SMEs are looking to borrow in the next 12 months; credit growth is strong at 9 to 10 percent; and as I said earlier, 43 percent are looking for alternatives so we think we’ve never had a better window of opportunity to attack this market.
Nearly all banks are espousing similar service promises, saying relationship management is the key to winning and protecting customers, so what would you say is the differentiator for BankWest?
One of the key differences involves execution of your strategy. It also largely comes down to the culture of your people. One of the attractions we have is that we are recruiting new people to our team and attracting people that fit our culture; one built very much around people and customer focus. We don’t have the legacy of having people that have been in jobs for 25 years and who don’t really want to be there and are just waiting for redundancy. We have people who very much want to be part of the team and we’re very encouraged by the people that have joined us so far and the reasons why they want to join us. So our people will make a huge difference.
Our execution and our ability to deliver in the small business arena shows that if you execute correctly, you can be different and we have learnt valuable lessons from that experience as we go into the middle market.
You said the first part of your east coast strategy is recruiting the right people. Is there anything more you can tell me about that strategy?
We’ve been actively planning and researching since late June this year, trying to really understand what customers are looking for in this segment. I’ve also been out speaking to existing customers to find out what they like about BankWest and how we can improve. We’ve now got that knowledge and we’re working on a number of strategies that we intend releasing in early in 2005, in the first quarter. At this stage we can’t disclose too much but it’s fair to say we’re looking at product innovation and clearly articulating the difference in our service, developing additional specialisations and bringing greater flexibility in our lending process. They’ll be some of the key drivers that we’ll be looking at and releasing early next year.
The first phase of that though is recruiting. We can’t achieve our aspirations without quality people on board. Our goal is to lift our workforce by about threefold over the next six to nine months, which would take us close to 100 managers. We’re serious about growing and growing rapidly.
So that’s threefold along the eastern seaboard?
Yes, that’s across the east coast, so that covers the Queensland market, Victoria, NSW and Adelaide markets.
On the topic of differentiation, you have a bank like St George which is associated with a strong relationship model; the Big 4 are pushing business bankers back into the branches in an attempt to get closer to the customer, and of course they have large product portfolios; where do you see BankWest fitting into that scenario?
We’re not focussing on any particular competitor; we’re focussing on really understanding what customers are looking for, and we’re focussing on delivering something that is clearly different, market leading and we’ll articulate clearly how that’s different.
In terms of St George and other regional banks, it’s clear from research that we as a group are polling much better in terms of customer satisfaction. That’s possibly because we haven’t had the impact of constant restructuring that some of the major banks have had which obviously impacts staff morale, and importantly has an impact on the relationship managers themselves. We often hear examples of customers citing four, five or six managers over a two-year period. Relationship manager churn is a big issue because when you change your managers, how can you say you understand that person’s industry, their business and personal aspirations. Regional banks have had that stability in their relationships. But where we differ from the other regionals is through the backing of HBOS. We’ve got the backing of a global bank that’s innovative and customer focused and is roughly two and a half times the size of our largest bank here in Australia.
So, what are some of the competitive advantages of having the backing of such a large organisation?
That size allows us to compete on much larger credits, enables us to be more flexible in our lending qualities and enables us to leverage a tremendous amount of intellectual property achieved through their experience gained through attacking the UK and Irish markets. We’ve access to their research and marketing, we’ve access to their electronic banking lending policies and specialisations and that’s a tremendous assistance to us. But more importantly we’ve got access to capital. To fund the growth aspirations that we wish to achieve does require a large investment ahead of revenues and as a regional bank you’d struggle to achieve that sort of investment because of the impact it would have on your current year earnings. We have the backing of a large parent and that’s a tremendous assistance.
That’s a huge advantage but does that bring with it pressure to get runs on the board quickly to justify the investment? Is there any time frame imposed on you by HBOS in terms of delivering results?
We don’t have a time frame to prove ourselves because HBOS very much believes in the market opportunity and our ability to execute. But naturally, like any other business we have budgets and plans going out for the next three to five years which we must achieve. We’re very confident, though, that the expectation in terms of sales and new customer acquisition and the profile of the customers we bring on board, that we can achieve because we’re currently doing so. Our biggest risk factor at the moment is recruiting because we need to bring the people on in the volumes that we anticipate but we’re very strongly encouraged by the responses we’ve received to date.
Is the biggest challenge at this stage awareness of the bank? How do you overcome that?
We’ve been assisted by the awareness of BankWest through our retail bank’s initiative in the TeleNet saver product. That’s achieved a very high lift in awareness of BankWest and it also signifies to the market how serious the HBOS group of companies, with brands such as BankWest, are about bringing about new competition. It’s early days since the launch in NSW and Victoria but we’ve already had 95,000 website hits, and some 11,000 phone calls.
We’ve got the benefit of the awareness of the BankWest profile, that awareness is reinforcing the view that we are very much a challenger type brand and that we are very customer focussed. Research always shows that in terms of service and product BankWest ranks very highly. Our biggest issue in the past has been purely a lack of awareness. You could say we’ve been one of the best kept secrets but that’s about to change when we launch officially to the market next year. That will be supported with an advertising campaign.
You haven’t been a secret on the other side of the country, of course, but given markets in Australia can be quite parochial, is there a danger that eastern seaboard customers may not respond to a bank from Western Australia?
All the research shows that the BankWest brand is highly regarded; we’re seen very much as a customer and people organisation so the actual name itself doesn’t impact the value of the brand. What’s been lacking on the east coast has been awareness and marketing spend to achieve that. We’re a tradition in Western Australia; we’ve been around for over 100 years and we support many of the sporting and arts bodies in Western Australia so there’s a very high awareness there. We also have high market share there which we’re keen to defend and grow. On the west coast we have a business that’s well known and mature, while on the east coast we have a business that’s doing very well but is largely unknown. The issue in the past has been capital to support the awareness program but with the backing of HBOS, we’re now able to bring the value of the BankWest brand to the marketplace.
The bank is advertising its retail products heavily – BankWest seems to be on the side of every bus in Sydney at the moment – are there plans to promote BankWest’s business banking offering?
We are working on a range of creatives that we anticipate launching to the market in the first quarter of 2005. In the interim, we believe the best way to lift the awareness of the bank is to be out there talking to the key players in the market, such as accounting firms, legal firms, business valuers and the like, who have large contact with our client base. Most of our work at the moment is on preparing our market launch in 2005.
What will this launch consist of? Will you come out and tell the market about BankWest’s strategy or simply launch new products into the market?
It will be around defining how we are clearly different and how we intend challenging the market. It will cover product, it will cover service, it will cover flexibility in our lending policies and it will cover our people. We believe if we do all of those, we can then overcome the inertia barrier; we’re also working on ways of making it easier for people to switch banks. And that’s a valuable lesson that we took from Business Express, the fact that we have to help people in the switching process, which isn’t all that difficult, it’s just perceived to be difficult. So if we can help people overcome the fear, the hassle factor, and let them know that we can assist them, we believe we can lift the rate whereby only 25 percent of the 43 percent of customers who wish to change banks actually do, to a higher level.
At this point it might be a good idea to clarify how BankWest defines or segments its business customers?
Business Express targets the micro and small business market which is typically businesses with nil to 20 employees with turnovers of up to $5 million. Our commercial and corporate business really lifts from there where we look after people with revenues of $5 million up to $250 million. Our clients typically have borrowings of between $2 to $25 million but again we do facilities that are much larger than that.
With HBOS putting some serious resources into the business, will you be targeting customers in the commercial segment, which we define as customers turning over between A$20 to 340 million?
That is certainly our aspiration, and since we’ve had the backing of HBOS we have moved into that field and we’ve completed a number of transaction in the A$50 to $75 million range. This would not have been possible 12 months ago but is now because we have the backing of HBOS.
Will you be focussing on transaction banking or lending to attract customers?
We intend to focus on both. On the lending side we intend to focus our strength on a better understanding of the client’s industry, on a better understanding of the client’s business and a better understanding of their personal aspirations. On the transaction side, we believe the battleground is going to be around electronic banking. It’s also about having a transactional account that delivers on what customers want.
Quite clearly, business owners feel the growth in fees has been excessive and that many of the fees are unwarranted, we’re mindful of what they’re saying and we intend to act on that.
Do you think having both the BankWest and HBOS brands in what is effectively the same entity is confusing for the market?
HBOS Australia is the holding company of a number of leading brands in Australia, one of which is BankWest, the others being Capital Finance, St Andrews and Bank of Scotland International Ltd. The customer facing brands are the brands that we will promote but we do promote the fact that we’re a member of the HBOS Australia Group, because it is important. In the upper end of the SME and commercial and corporate segments people do like to know that we have the backing of a large organisation and they like to know we have access to a complete range of products and services that can assist them with international transactions, so that’s very important for us.
Other regional banks are heading interstate with SMEs firmly in their sights; the Australian Financial Review is full of ads for Relationship Managers. Given good business bankers are flavour of the month and a lot of banks are chasing the same people, why would they join BankWest over a rival bank?
You’re right, recruiting quality people is the key and while we’re looking to increase our workforce threefold, we’ll only do that if we attract the right people. We believe we’ve developed good expertise at selecting the right people and those are people who are focussed on both the team and the customer. We believe the difference with BankWest really is our proven track record in the business market. We’re a bank that has more than 100 years in the business segment and unlike other regionals that started off in the housing arena and then moved into business, we actually started 100 years ago as a business bank and have only recently become involved in housing loans.
We have a rich heritage in business lending, we’ve got a proven track record of delivering and we’ve got the backing of HBOS, which is so important because people want to work for a business that’s innovative and challenging and we’re certainly going to do that. People want to work with an organisation with growth prospects and we certainly have that, and people want to work with an organisation that enables them to deliver to customers who are growing and require larger and more complex credits and that’s an area where other regional banks will struggle purely for prudential purposes.
In terms of distribution, BankWest has been using the broker channel quite heavily on the east coast. Do you intend establishing more of a physical presence over the coming year or so?
We’re still investigating our options in terms of physical presence but we are strongly researching the ability to roll our regional business banking centres that are closer to our customers. Again, I’ll be able to tell you more early next year about where we’re going in that regard.
How are you going to focus on the market? Are you going out by industry or other types of specialisation?
We see specialisation as a key platform to our growth strategy and this an area where we’re getting good assistance from HBOS in the UK, and particularly Bank of Scotland. They have a number of established specialisations in both the Irish and UK markets, up to 30 in fact, and we’re currently evaluating those specialisations to see which would be the most appropriate for the Australian market and then looking at adapting what they’ve learnt and done into an Australian context. We’re not at a point yet where we’re able to disclose these plans but we do intend to have upwards of another six specialisations in addition to our pharmacy, age care, agribusiness and franchising businesses to announce next year.
Is your growth strategy on the east coast an organic one or would you acquire if the right opportunity came along?
The strategy that we put to the HBOS Australia executive was built around organic growth. Naturally if a small acquisition that complemented our strategy came onboard, we’d certainly have a good look at it but our strategy at the moment is based on organic growth. We’re focused purely on growing our team and making sure we’re customer focussed and challenging the current practices in the market place.
A final crystal ball question: what’s your vision for BankWest’s business banking practice? What kind of business do you see it becoming in two or five years time?
We’ve certainly set ourselves high growth ambitions and we believe they’re achievable. But when people talk about BankWest corporate and commercial banking in two years time, I believe they’ll be talking about our people and the culture that we’ve built with our people, and that’s a culture which is very much customer focussed. With everything we do, the first thing we ask ourselves is "how does this impact our customers?"
I think we’ll be seen as the challenger brand, in a similar way to Virgin Blue was versus Qantas. We’ll be seen as a bank that is business minded with business people and that’s the key, particularly in the upper end of the SME market and commercial markets. At the end of the day, people want to deal with people that are business minded.
Gary Johnson speaks to East & Partners senior consultant Paul Bartholomew.
The business banking market on the east coast has become increasingly competitive and dynamic with a lot of players chasing the same small business and commercial customers. Where do you see the opportunities for BankWest in this market and how confident are you that the bank will be successful?
Our quest to grow on the east coast really started back in April 2002 when we launched Business Express, which was our first bid to go national, with the focus at that stage purely on small business. When we started we conducted a lot of research. It was very clear that small business felt our competitors had stopped listening to them and were too focussed on cost control rather than what they wanted. Business Express focussed on the service side and had considerable success in a relatively short period of time. It’s added close to 6000 new customers over the last two and a half years. That gave us the confidence that if you can offer something different the market will respond positively.
But we are certainly aware that customers suffer from inertia. Your own research shows us that close to 43 percent of SMEs are considering switching yet only about 25 percent will actually shift, so why is that? Well, our belief is that it’s two things: inertia, the hassle factor, which we certainly don’t underestimate. The other one is that business owners have started to see all banks as one, the brands have converged and so we see it as being important to clearly articulate how we are different. HBOS backing gives us the ability to compete in the large SME area and it gives us the capability from a credit point of view to look at more complex and larger credits, so that when our customers grow we can grow with them and be as responsive as needs be.
Research in the SME and commercial market shows that some 70 percent of SMEs are looking to borrow in the next 12 months; credit growth is strong at 9 to 10 percent; and as I said earlier, 43 percent are looking for alternatives so we think we’ve never had a better window of opportunity to attack this market.
Nearly all banks are espousing similar service promises, saying relationship management is the key to winning and protecting customers, so what would you say is the differentiator for BankWest?
One of the key differences involves execution of your strategy. It also largely comes down to the culture of your people. One of the attractions we have is that we are recruiting new people to our team and attracting people that fit our culture; one built very much around people and customer focus. We don’t have the legacy of having people that have been in jobs for 25 years and who don’t really want to be there and are just waiting for redundancy. We have people who very much want to be part of the team and we’re very encouraged by the people that have joined us so far and the reasons why they want to join us. So our people will make a huge difference.
Our execution and our ability to deliver in the small business arena shows that if you execute correctly, you can be different and we have learnt valuable lessons from that experience as we go into the middle market.
You said the first part of your east coast strategy is recruiting the right people. Is there anything more you can tell me about that strategy?
We’ve been actively planning and researching since late June this year, trying to really understand what customers are looking for in this segment. I’ve also been out speaking to existing customers to find out what they like about BankWest and how we can improve. We’ve now got that knowledge and we’re working on a number of strategies that we intend releasing in early in 2005, in the first quarter. At this stage we can’t disclose too much but it’s fair to say we’re looking at product innovation and clearly articulating the difference in our service, developing additional specialisations and bringing greater flexibility in our lending process. They’ll be some of the key drivers that we’ll be looking at and releasing early next year.
The first phase of that though is recruiting. We can’t achieve our aspirations without quality people on board. Our goal is to lift our workforce by about threefold over the next six to nine months, which would take us close to 100 managers. We’re serious about growing and growing rapidly.
So that’s threefold along the eastern seaboard?
Yes, that’s across the east coast, so that covers the Queensland market, Victoria, NSW and Adelaide markets.
On the topic of differentiation, you have a bank like St George which is associated with a strong relationship model; the Big 4 are pushing business bankers back into the branches in an attempt to get closer to the customer, and of course they have large product portfolios; where do you see BankWest fitting into that scenario?
We’re not focussing on any particular competitor; we’re focussing on really understanding what customers are looking for, and we’re focussing on delivering something that is clearly different, market leading and we’ll articulate clearly how that’s different.
In terms of St George and other regional banks, it’s clear from research that we as a group are polling much better in terms of customer satisfaction. That’s possibly because we haven’t had the impact of constant restructuring that some of the major banks have had which obviously impacts staff morale, and importantly has an impact on the relationship managers themselves. We often hear examples of customers citing four, five or six managers over a two-year period. Relationship manager churn is a big issue because when you change your managers, how can you say you understand that person’s industry, their business and personal aspirations. Regional banks have had that stability in their relationships. But where we differ from the other regionals is through the backing of HBOS. We’ve got the backing of a global bank that’s innovative and customer focused and is roughly two and a half times the size of our largest bank here in Australia.
So, what are some of the competitive advantages of having the backing of such a large organisation?
That size allows us to compete on much larger credits, enables us to be more flexible in our lending qualities and enables us to leverage a tremendous amount of intellectual property achieved through their experience gained through attacking the UK and Irish markets. We’ve access to their research and marketing, we’ve access to their electronic banking lending policies and specialisations and that’s a tremendous assistance to us. But more importantly we’ve got access to capital. To fund the growth aspirations that we wish to achieve does require a large investment ahead of revenues and as a regional bank you’d struggle to achieve that sort of investment because of the impact it would have on your current year earnings. We have the backing of a large parent and that’s a tremendous assistance.
That’s a huge advantage but does that bring with it pressure to get runs on the board quickly to justify the investment? Is there any time frame imposed on you by HBOS in terms of delivering results?
We don’t have a time frame to prove ourselves because HBOS very much believes in the market opportunity and our ability to execute. But naturally, like any other business we have budgets and plans going out for the next three to five years which we must achieve. We’re very confident, though, that the expectation in terms of sales and new customer acquisition and the profile of the customers we bring on board, that we can achieve because we’re currently doing so. Our biggest risk factor at the moment is recruiting because we need to bring the people on in the volumes that we anticipate but we’re very strongly encouraged by the responses we’ve received to date.
Is the biggest challenge at this stage awareness of the bank? How do you overcome that?
We’ve been assisted by the awareness of BankWest through our retail bank’s initiative in the TeleNet saver product. That’s achieved a very high lift in awareness of BankWest and it also signifies to the market how serious the HBOS group of companies, with brands such as BankWest, are about bringing about new competition. It’s early days since the launch in NSW and Victoria but we’ve already had 95,000 website hits, and some 11,000 phone calls.
We’ve got the benefit of the awareness of the BankWest profile, that awareness is reinforcing the view that we are very much a challenger type brand and that we are very customer focussed. Research always shows that in terms of service and product BankWest ranks very highly. Our biggest issue in the past has been purely a lack of awareness. You could say we’ve been one of the best kept secrets but that’s about to change when we launch officially to the market next year. That will be supported with an advertising campaign.
You haven’t been a secret on the other side of the country, of course, but given markets in Australia can be quite parochial, is there a danger that eastern seaboard customers may not respond to a bank from Western Australia?
All the research shows that the BankWest brand is highly regarded; we’re seen very much as a customer and people organisation so the actual name itself doesn’t impact the value of the brand. What’s been lacking on the east coast has been awareness and marketing spend to achieve that. We’re a tradition in Western Australia; we’ve been around for over 100 years and we support many of the sporting and arts bodies in Western Australia so there’s a very high awareness there. We also have high market share there which we’re keen to defend and grow. On the west coast we have a business that’s well known and mature, while on the east coast we have a business that’s doing very well but is largely unknown. The issue in the past has been capital to support the awareness program but with the backing of HBOS, we’re now able to bring the value of the BankWest brand to the marketplace.
The bank is advertising its retail products heavily – BankWest seems to be on the side of every bus in Sydney at the moment – are there plans to promote BankWest’s business banking offering?
We are working on a range of creatives that we anticipate launching to the market in the first quarter of 2005. In the interim, we believe the best way to lift the awareness of the bank is to be out there talking to the key players in the market, such as accounting firms, legal firms, business valuers and the like, who have large contact with our client base. Most of our work at the moment is on preparing our market launch in 2005.
What will this launch consist of? Will you come out and tell the market about BankWest’s strategy or simply launch new products into the market?
It will be around defining how we are clearly different and how we intend challenging the market. It will cover product, it will cover service, it will cover flexibility in our lending policies and it will cover our people. We believe if we do all of those, we can then overcome the inertia barrier; we’re also working on ways of making it easier for people to switch banks. And that’s a valuable lesson that we took from Business Express, the fact that we have to help people in the switching process, which isn’t all that difficult, it’s just perceived to be difficult. So if we can help people overcome the fear, the hassle factor, and let them know that we can assist them, we believe we can lift the rate whereby only 25 percent of the 43 percent of customers who wish to change banks actually do, to a higher level.
At this point it might be a good idea to clarify how BankWest defines or segments its business customers?
Business Express targets the micro and small business market which is typically businesses with nil to 20 employees with turnovers of up to $5 million. Our commercial and corporate business really lifts from there where we look after people with revenues of $5 million up to $250 million. Our clients typically have borrowings of between $2 to $25 million but again we do facilities that are much larger than that.
With HBOS putting some serious resources into the business, will you be targeting customers in the commercial segment, which we define as customers turning over between A$20 to 340 million?
That is certainly our aspiration, and since we’ve had the backing of HBOS we have moved into that field and we’ve completed a number of transaction in the A$50 to $75 million range. This would not have been possible 12 months ago but is now because we have the backing of HBOS.
Will you be focussing on transaction banking or lending to attract customers?
We intend to focus on both. On the lending side we intend to focus our strength on a better understanding of the client’s industry, on a better understanding of the client’s business and a better understanding of their personal aspirations. On the transaction side, we believe the battleground is going to be around electronic banking. It’s also about having a transactional account that delivers on what customers want.
Quite clearly, business owners feel the growth in fees has been excessive and that many of the fees are unwarranted, we’re mindful of what they’re saying and we intend to act on that.
Do you think having both the BankWest and HBOS brands in what is effectively the same entity is confusing for the market?
HBOS Australia is the holding company of a number of leading brands in Australia, one of which is BankWest, the others being Capital Finance, St Andrews and Bank of Scotland International Ltd. The customer facing brands are the brands that we will promote but we do promote the fact that we’re a member of the HBOS Australia Group, because it is important. In the upper end of the SME and commercial and corporate segments people do like to know that we have the backing of a large organisation and they like to know we have access to a complete range of products and services that can assist them with international transactions, so that’s very important for us.
Other regional banks are heading interstate with SMEs firmly in their sights; the Australian Financial Review is full of ads for Relationship Managers. Given good business bankers are flavour of the month and a lot of banks are chasing the same people, why would they join BankWest over a rival bank?
You’re right, recruiting quality people is the key and while we’re looking to increase our workforce threefold, we’ll only do that if we attract the right people. We believe we’ve developed good expertise at selecting the right people and those are people who are focussed on both the team and the customer. We believe the difference with BankWest really is our proven track record in the business market. We’re a bank that has more than 100 years in the business segment and unlike other regionals that started off in the housing arena and then moved into business, we actually started 100 years ago as a business bank and have only recently become involved in housing loans.
We have a rich heritage in business lending, we’ve got a proven track record of delivering and we’ve got the backing of HBOS, which is so important because people want to work for a business that’s innovative and challenging and we’re certainly going to do that. People want to work with an organisation with growth prospects and we certainly have that, and people want to work with an organisation that enables them to deliver to customers who are growing and require larger and more complex credits and that’s an area where other regional banks will struggle purely for prudential purposes.
In terms of distribution, BankWest has been using the broker channel quite heavily on the east coast. Do you intend establishing more of a physical presence over the coming year or so?
We’re still investigating our options in terms of physical presence but we are strongly researching the ability to roll our regional business banking centres that are closer to our customers. Again, I’ll be able to tell you more early next year about where we’re going in that regard.
How are you going to focus on the market? Are you going out by industry or other types of specialisation?
We see specialisation as a key platform to our growth strategy and this an area where we’re getting good assistance from HBOS in the UK, and particularly Bank of Scotland. They have a number of established specialisations in both the Irish and UK markets, up to 30 in fact, and we’re currently evaluating those specialisations to see which would be the most appropriate for the Australian market and then looking at adapting what they’ve learnt and done into an Australian context. We’re not at a point yet where we’re able to disclose these plans but we do intend to have upwards of another six specialisations in addition to our pharmacy, age care, agribusiness and franchising businesses to announce next year.
Is your growth strategy on the east coast an organic one or would you acquire if the right opportunity came along?
The strategy that we put to the HBOS Australia executive was built around organic growth. Naturally if a small acquisition that complemented our strategy came onboard, we’d certainly have a good look at it but our strategy at the moment is based on organic growth. We’re focused purely on growing our team and making sure we’re customer focussed and challenging the current practices in the market place.
A final crystal ball question: what’s your vision for BankWest’s business banking practice? What kind of business do you see it becoming in two or five years time?
We’ve certainly set ourselves high growth ambitions and we believe they’re achievable. But when people talk about BankWest corporate and commercial banking in two years time, I believe they’ll be talking about our people and the culture that we’ve built with our people, and that’s a culture which is very much customer focussed. With everything we do, the first thing we ask ourselves is "how does this impact our customers?"
I think we’ll be seen as the challenger brand, in a similar way to Virgin Blue was versus Qantas. We’ll be seen as a bank that is business minded with business people and that’s the key, particularly in the upper end of the SME market and commercial markets. At the end of the day, people want to deal with people that are business minded.
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