Founded in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, Westpac is Australia's oldest banking establishment. The name of the bank was changed to Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) in 1982 following a merger between the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd. On 23rd August 2002, Westpac was listed as a public company under the Australian Corporations Act 2001. (Westpac Annual Financial Report, 2002, p. 5).
Westpac employs some 23,000 employees and serves approximately 7.5 million customers throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Offices are also maintained through branches or subsidiaries in major world financial centres such as London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. (Westpac Concise Annual Report, 2002, p. 34).
The company operates under four key business areas being:.
• Business and Consumer Banking: .
• Wealth Management:.
• Westpac Institutional Bank:.
• New Zealand Retail (Westpac Trust):.
2.2 - Company Ownership .
The majority of Westpac's ordinary shares are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), with smaller listings on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New Zealand Stock Exchange. American Depository Shares, each worth five ordinary shares, are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (Westpac Annual Financial Report, 2002, p. 156).
The directors and executive officers of Westpac own a combined total of 0.12% of the fully paid ordinary shares. (Westpac Annual Financial Report, 2002, p. 155). Ownership within Australia accounts for 94.45% of the percentage holdings, New Zealand holds 3.98%, United Kingdom 0.82%, Japan 0.01%, United States 0.16% and other overseas interests hold 0.58%. (Westpac Annual Financial Report, 2002, p. 152).
Within Australia, JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited is the largest shareholder, holding 18.36% of the total fully paid ordinary shares issued. The top twenty shareholders in Australia hold 62.
