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A pedestrian looks at his phone as he walks past a logo for Australia's Westpac Banking Corp located outside a branch in central Sydney, Australia, November 5, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), Australia's third largest bank by market capitalisation, said on Monday it would raise A$750 million ($488.1 million) in an Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital transaction. The AT1 bonds are used by banks to stabilise cashflow in periods of stress, according to APRA. Under that deal, holders of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds received nothing, while shareholders, who usually rank below bondholders in terms of who gets paid when a bank or company collapses, received $3.23 billion. ($1 = 1.5366 Australian dollars)Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: David Gray, Stephen Jones, Scott Murdoch, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Stephen Coates Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Rights, Westpac Banking Corp, Westpac, prudential, Credit Suisse, APRA, Credit Suisse AT1s, Commonwealth Bank, Credit, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia

It said it would tender for a new external auditor as part of "best practice for audit firm rotation". PwC has audited Westpac since 2002, before which PwC partners and their ancestor firms had audited the bank since 1968. However, PwC's lead Westpac audit partner assumed the role less than two years ago, in December 2021, according to a Westpac governance statement this month. A PwC Australia spokesperson said the firm understood the board's decision and was proud of its time as Westpac's auditor. Renamed Scyne Advisory, roughly 1,400 of PwC Australia's more than 9,000 staff moved over to the new firm.

Persons: Loren Elliott, PwC, Lewis Jackson, Christopher Cushing, Robert Birsel Organizations: Westpac, Central Business District of, REUTERS, Rights, Westpac Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC's, Google, Uber Technologies, Facebook, Meta, PwC, Scyne Advisory, Scyne, Thomson Locations: Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, PwC Australia

The results show how Australia's retail banks are leaning into businesses outside their traditional earnings engine of mortgages as higher interest rates raise the cost of repayments, spurring competition which has flattened profit margins. Sydney-listed Westpac said profit from its consumer division, which has just over one-fifth of Australian mortgages, shrank 7% in its full-year to end-September. Westpac gave no profit forecasts but said April-to-September trading was "more challenging" than the previous six months and "this is expected to continue into 2024". "If that does eventuate, interest rates will probably need to be higher than what we're thinking," he said on a call with analysts and media. Westpac declared a final dividend of 72 Australian cents per share, up from 64 Australian cents a year earlier.

Persons: David Gray, Azib Khan, Peter King, We've, Byron Kaye, Roushni Nair, Upasana Singh, Andrew Heavens, Josie Kao, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ, Sydney, midsession, P Capital, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Ukraine, Bengaluru

☆ Australia's Westpac warns of $109 mln hit to fiscal 2023 profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The bank sees an increase in provisions for customer refunds and associated payments and restructuring costs, among others, in fiscal 2023. Westpac reported a net profit attributable of A$5.69 billion in fiscal 2022. The company noted that the notable items recorded in fiscal 2023 are significantly lower than the notable items of A$874 million recorded in fiscal 2022. The net impact of these one-off items will reduce the bank's common equity tier 1 capital ratio by 4 basis points, it added. ($1 = 1.5855 Australian dollars)(This story has been corrected to say Westpac warns of a hit, not lower fiscal 2023 profit, in the headline)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Loren Elliott, Roushni Nair, Shailesh Organizations: Westpac, Central Business District of, REUTERS, Westpac Banking Corp, Thomson Locations: Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Australia's Westpac fails to sell pacific banking business
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A woman exits the ground floor of an office building with Westpac logo amidst the easing of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in the Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, June 3, 2020. "Any failure to successfully divest businesses means that we may have sustained exposure to higher operating costs and to the higher inherent risks in those businesses," Westpac had told the market during its interim results in May. The bank would be starting a new brand campaign in the months ahead in both the countries in a move to improve its standing in local markets, Anthony Miller, CEO of Westpac business and wealth division said in a statement. The company said its pacific business was continuing to see growth along with operational recovery post COVID, which presented Westpac an option to invest in the operations. ($1 = 1.5863 Australian dollars)Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Additional Reporting by Ayushman Ojha; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Loren Elliott, Anthony Miller, Rishav Chatterjee, Ayushman Ojha, Rashmi Organizations: Westpac, Central Business District of, REUTERS, Kina Securities, Thomson Locations: Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Bengaluru

☆ Dollar at 10-month top as US yields spike; yen slides
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. Dollar banknote is seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsSINGAPORE, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The dollar stood by 10-month highs against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday, supported by U.S. bond yields scaling 16-year peaks, while the yen tiptoed deeper into the intervention danger zone. "Few currencies will resist the bullish dollar macro resiliency theme and the euro and Chinese yuan look more vulnerable than most." The yen has slowly but inexorably slid toward the 150-per-dollar mark as policymakers stuck with ultra-easy settings. The yen hit 148.97 to the dollar on Monday and last traded at 148.72.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Sterling, Jane Foley, Tom Westbrook, Jamie Freed Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Treasury, U.S, Australia's Westpac, Swiss, Traders, Bank of Japan, Thomson Locations: Rights SINGAPORE, Europe, Asia, U.S, Tokyo

☆ Dollar at 10-month top as U.S. yields spike, yen slides
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The dollar stood by 10-month highs against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday, supported by U.S. bond yields scaling 16-year peaks, while the yen tiptoed deeper into the intervention danger zone. "Few currencies will resist the bullish dollar macro resiliency theme and the euro and Chinese yuan look more vulnerable than most." The yen has slowly but inexorably slid toward the 150-per-dollar mark as policymakers stuck with ultra-easy settings. The yen hit 148.97 to the dollar on Monday and last traded at 148.72. "We remain of the view that the dollar is unlikely to weaken significantly until Fed rate cuts are firmly on the horizon," she said.

Persons: Sterling, Jane Foley Organizations: Treasury, U.S, Australia's Westpac, Swiss, Traders, Bank of Japan Locations: Europe, Asia, U.S

☆ Westpac acknowledges legal proceedings on financial hardships negligence
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Loren Elliott Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Westpac Banking Corp FollowSept 4 (Reuters) - Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) on Tuesday said it was aware of legal proceedings launched by the country's corporate regulator alleging the lender's failure to assist its customers with financial hardship notices between 2015 and 2022. The legal proceedings are linked with a "technology failure" in which the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) claimed 229 applications for financial hardship assistance logged between 2015 and 2022 were not evaluated within 21 days, Westpac said in an email response to Reuters. "This error meant we didn't provide some of our customers with the help they needed. For this, we are deeply sorry," said Westpac Group Chief Information Officer Scott Collary. Over the alleged period of breach, Westpac received about 630,000 applications for hardship assistance, the company told Reuters.

Persons: Loren Elliott, Scott Collary, Roushni Nair, Sandra Maler Organizations: Westpac, Central Business District of, REUTERS, Rights Companies Westpac Banking, Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Reuters, Westpac Group, Australia's National, Thomson Locations: Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Westpac flags higher expenses in quarterly update; shares drop
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Archishma Iyer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of Sydney-based Westpac fell about 2.1% to trade at A$20.82 at 0040 GMT, hitting their lowest since July 12. Broadly, Australia's major banks have all flagged stiff competition in the mortgage space, along with higher expenses as inflationary pressures weigh. The higher interest rates have also contributed to increased living costs, which are pushing up debt arrears. Westpac did not publish a comparable quarterly net profit figure for the same period a year earlier. The figure reported on Monday was below the A$2 billion average profit for the first two quarters of fiscal 2023.

Persons: David Gray, Riya Sharma, Archishma Iyer, Sam Holmes, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac Banking Corp, Sydney, Westpac, Citi, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia Bank, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia

☆ Westpac flags margin squeeze from rising home loan competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/David Gray Acquire Licensing RightsSummaryCompanies Reports quarterly cash profit A$1.8 billionLate loan repayments rises to 0.8% in AustraliaCET1 Ratio of 11.9%Aug 21 (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), Australia's third-largest lender, on Monday posted a quarterly cash profit of A$1.8 billion ($1.15 billion), as increased competition for home lending squeezed margins. Australia's major banks have all flagged stiff competition in the mortgage space, along with higher expenses as inflationary pressures weigh. Sydney-based Westpac said expenses for the second half to date were up 5% from the first half, fuelled by higher supplier costs and staff wages. In Australia, loan repayments past 90 days late rose to 0.80% in the three-months ended June, up 7 basis points from 0.73% in March, Westpac said. The lender reported a core net interest margin of 1.86% for the quarter, down 4 basis points from the first half of fiscal 2023.

Persons: David Gray, Riya Sharma, Archishma Iyer, Lisa Shumaker, Sam Holmes Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac Banking Corp, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia Bank, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia

☆ Australia's Westpac splits consumer and business banking unit into two
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 19 (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) on Wednesday said it would split its consumer and business banking business into two, with each having its own CEO, effective Aug. 1. The bank said Chris de Bruin, currently head of the combined unit, will leave and named Jason Yetton as CEO of the consumer business and Anthony Miller as CEO of the business and wealth division. Westpac also promoted Nell Hutton to head its institutional bank unit. These changes come at a time when Australia's biggest banks are reeling under the pressures of increased interest rates, which have contributed to slowing credit growth. The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised interest rates by a whopping 400 basis points in just 14 months.

Persons: Chris de Bruin, Jason Yetton, Anthony Miller, Nell Hutton, Harish Sridharan, Savio D'Souza Organizations: Westpac Banking Corp, Westpac, Reserve Bank of Australia, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

2 mortgage provider has told mortgage brokers that "if a customer is unable to meet serviceability under the standard assessment criteria", it might apply a modified serviceability assessment rate. Since the buffer is a guideline, banks are allowed to deviate from it. "APRA should consider officially lowering the serviceability buffer for refinancers." Representatives for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) and ANZ Banking Group Ltd (ANZ.AX) were not immediately available for comment. ($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)Reporting by Byron Kaye and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

May 8 (Reuters) - Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) on Monday threw out a cost-cutting target citing inflation and flagged thinner profit margins going ahead, but investors pushed its shares higher after it handily beat expectations for first-half profit. Westpac shares closed 2% higher, ahead of a broader market advance (.AXJO) of 0.8%, as the market cheered the better-than-expected profit. Costs for Westpac came to A$5 billion for the half, down from A$5.2 billion a year earlier. Westpac declared an interim dividend of 70 Australian cents per share, up from 61 Australian cents last year. ($1 = 1.4810 Australian dollars)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Westpac H1 profit jumps on higher interest rates, flags second-half margin pressures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Intense mortgage competition is expected to negatively impact industry and Westpac’s margins in the next half," it said. The country's No.3 lender said net profit came in at A$4.00 billion ($2.70 billion) for the six months ended March 31, compared with A$3.28 billion a year earlier. Net interest margin - the difference between interest earned from lending and paid for deposits - rose 5 basis points from a year earlier to 1.96% at the end of March. Westpac declared an interim dividend of 70 Australian cents per share, as compared with 61 Australian cents last year. ($1 = 1.4819 Australian dollars)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Australia's Westpac to tap U.S. dollar bond market - term sheet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Scott Murdoch | Thomson Reuters | Scott Murdoch Has Been A Journalist For More Than Two Decades Working For Thomson Reuters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) has mandated banks to work on two- and five-year U.S. dollar bond issuances, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters. Westpac raised A$2.8 billion ($1.82 billion) in an Australian-dollar-denominated bond on Monday, domestic media said. The bank plans to issue in U.S. dollars a two-year fixed rate bond, a two-year floating rate note, and a five-year fixed rate transaction, the term sheet showed. The final pricing is due to be set later in the New York trading session on Wednesday, subject to market conditions, according to the term sheet. Westpac planned to use the U.S. dollar proceeds from the bonds for general corporate purposes, the term sheet showed.

☆ Australia's Westpac sees $824 mln hit in second half from unit sale
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) warned on Monday that its second-half reported net profit and cash earnings will be reduced by A$1.3 billion ($824 million) after tax, citing a loss on the sale of its life insurance business, among others. Westpac, the country's third-largest lender, said the one-off charge will have a net positive impact of 12 basis points (bps) on its common equity tier 1 capital ratio as the unit sale added 17 bps. Westpac is set to announce its fiscal 2022 results on Nov. 7. Rivals National Australia Bank (NAB.AX) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) will report their annual results on Nov. 9 and Oct. 27, respectively. ($1 = 1.58 Australian dollars)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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