(12 April 2011 – Australia) Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said official interest rates were likely to remain on hold until September.”So interest rates have been on hold for a period of time and I’d expect them to continue to be on hold, at least for the next several months,” the Westpac chief told an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne.
“Possibly around September-time I would see the potential for another interest rate change, but I think that will be 25 basis points up.”
Overall, Mrs Kelly believed the economy was performing well, with a number of strong performance sectors including resources.
Exports were suffering due to the high dollar, and this combined with the natural disasters had led to a slump in business confidence.
She said Westpac had an organic growth strategy for Asia, supporting its customers that were doing business in the region, as well as people migrating to Australia.
Westpac’s representative office in Beijing would become a full branch and the bank planned to get a full license for its branch in Shanghai to enable it to transact in the local currency.
The bank was also looking to establish a third branch in China, and upgrade its representative office in Mumbai to a branch.