(4 May 2012 – Australia) Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) CEO Gail Kelly has announced her plan to make deposits her focus as Australia’s second biggest bank returns to ‘old-style’ banking.The greater focus on deposits will make it more difficult for Westpac to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia rates cuts in full to borrowers.
Mrs Kelly said weak business and consumer demand for loans, volatile funding markets and competition for savings had made deposits her primary objective after WBC announced a 1 percent rise in half year cash profit.
“We’ve seen steady progress but we know there’s more to do there as we shift the culture of our organisation to be more of a deposit-raising culture than a lending culture,” Mrs Kelly said.
Deposits have risen from about half of WBC’s total funding pre GFC to 63.2 percent currently.