Introduction
Westpac group is a financial institution located in Australia. The major goal for the company is to satisfy its 10 million customers by helping them achieve their financial goals. It encourages its valued customers to save and invest, ensuring that it meets the financial need of the multi-national corporate and government clients. It has retail and business banking which is responsible for sales, customer service, and marketing (The Westpac Group, n.d). Westpac operations are conducted through a network of 848 branches world wide and it is still aiming to open other branches.
Background
Westpac Company was established in 1817 in New South Wales under the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie. It latter changed its name to Westpac Banking Corporation in 1982 after the emergence of the Commercial Bank of Australia. After this emergence it expanded rapidly in the period 1980s. In 2000s Westpac became the principal sponsor of Sydney 2000 Olympic Games which was very successful. Westpac Banking Corporation began a strategic restructuring and was able to expand its wealth management. It acquired Rothschild Australia Asset Management, parts of BT financial Group and a 51% of Hastings Funds Management Limited. It got its registration as a public company on 23 August 2002, under the Australian corporations Act (2001).
Currently Westpac Banking Corporation has numerous branches and affiliates in Australia and New Zealand. It has an estimated labor force of about 37000 people from Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world (The Westpac Group, n.d).
Current Corporate Strategies
One of the priorities of Westpac Group is to foster corporate responsibility into its business model. Its vision is to be a great Australian company in terms of place of work, customer experience, shareholder returns, and corporate citizen. Currently the company is working on understanding the customers’ needs in order to ensure maximum satisfaction. It is also aimed at service delivery of what it has promised. Strong relationship either with the employees or the public is crucial in any business’s success (The Westpac Group, n.d). The Westpac Company is working to ensure that it builds strong relationships which will ease service delivery.
Part of Westpac Company’s vision is to promote corporate governance. To attain this, the company as at 2008 introduced some strategies to help in attaining this vision. One such strategy is to provide access to information on the website which can be accessed all over the world. It has been able to do this but changes have to be done from time to time. Compliance with the New York stock Exchange listing rules is another strategy that it wants to adopt. To ensure a smooth learning the company has decided to establish and make clear roles and responsibilities of the Board and management team.
Business segments
The Westpac Company has different business segments some of which are:
- Business Financial Services (BFS)
- Customer Financial Services (CFS)
- BT Financial Group Australia
- Westpac institutional Bank
- New Zealand Banking
- Business Technology Solution
Overview of Business Activities
The major business activity at Westpac Company is provision of financial services. This financial services maybe in form of savings, bank development or bank trading such as lending, payments services, investment portfolio & management, insurance services, leasing, general finance, foreign exchange, money market services among others. This company offers some major products or services which include personal lending, business lending and deposits.
Reference
The Westpac Group. Company overview. 2010. Web.