People believe that banks can and should play a vital role in communities, taking the lead and doing the right thing beyond their corporate walls, on social and environmental issues. Westpac agrees and we find it makes good business sense too.

We manage a wide range of sustainability issues across the value chain. From screening the environmental, social and ethical practices of our suppliers, through to helping our customers with accessible services, e-statements and responsible lending practices. We also have an expert Commodities, Carbon and Energy team.

We have an organisational culture built upon values and principles that consider the needs of multiple stakeholders. And, we engage in external consultation and community partnerships as a key way to better understand the social, environmental and other concerns within our communities.

Our corporate community involvement is underpinned by a number of long-term partnerships, which reflect the diversity of the bank’s engagement with its communities. We focus on how to make best use of our resources to create real and mutual value for our community partners, as well as realise broader social benefit, and our most valuable resource is our employees.

Our people, who we support with community leave and flexible working hours, actively support our community partners and their local communities. During the 12 months to May 2008, 60 per cent volunteered their time: twice the national average.

Westpac 2008 Stakeholder Impact Report “Forward”		Westpac Community Involvement 2007 “Regeneration”
Our Stakeholder Impact Report reports on our performance against more than 100 financial and non-financial drivers of value, covering the marketplace, workplace, community, environment and economic dimensions. It is prepared in line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and assured against the AA1000 Assurance Standard. It is available, from December 2008, at: www.westpac.com.au/corporateresponsibility		Our Community Involvement Report details our community programs covering employee involvement, community partnerships, capacity building and philanthropic activities. For more information refer to the full report available at: www.westpac.com.au/community or email us at: community@westpac.com.au

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