Chairman's Report


This year has truly been remarkable – for your company in its 192nd year, for Australia and for the global economy. In my first full year as your Chairman we have seen the impacts of the market turmoil deepen significantly from those discussed in my report to you last year.

As I said then, such times also provide opportunity for strongly positioned banks, and so a great opportunity was realised in May, when we announced the proposed merger between Westpac and St.George Bank Limited; I will discuss that further, below.

I’m proud of the way Westpac has managed this crisis. We’ve held true to our strategy and focused on those areas we know best, with our conservative stance truly paying dividends for you, our shareholders. The strength of our capital, the rise in earnings and the uplift in dividends is testament to that success. Our financial strength and risk management practices have been recognised by investors and rating agencies globally, and we have the added advantage of operating in arguably the best regulated banking environment.

Through this difficult period we have managed a seamless CEO transition from David Morgan to Gail Kelly. Gail, who took the reins in February, hit the ground running in what has been a very challenging environment. Gail’s strong focus on customers has helped shape our vision to become Australia and New Zealand’s leading financial services company, through delighting our customers and earning all of their business. Gail has also maintained our heightened focus on risk, a critical aspect of our business in the current climate.

“I’m proud of the way Westpac has managed this crisis. We’ve held true to our strategy and focused on those areas we know best, with our conservative stance truly paying dividends for you our shareholders.” Ted Evans AC

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