Westpac

Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, the Bank opened branches throughout Oceania, at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) in 1850, then in Victoria (1851), New Zealand (1861), South Australia (1877), Western Australia (1883), Fiji (1901), Papua New Guinea (1910) and Tasmania (1910). A detailed history, including discussion of the identity of Shamrock. In 1817, the Bank of New South Wales was founded in Sydney as the first bank in Australia. ISBN 0-86-314199-4. This unit offers a wide range of deposit, loan, transaction account and international trade facilities to personal and business customers. Boethius Press. It is the dominant provider of banking services to small to medium business and is the banker of the New Zealand government. Charles; Loughin, Bernard, Shamrock: Botany and History of an Irish Myth: A Biography of the Shamrock in History, Literature, Music and Art.

This unit offers a whole range of consumer and corporate services to clients throughout New Zealand. Nelson, E. This business offers financial services to the corporate and institutional customer base, helping and advising in the management of cash, funding, capital and market risk for enterprises and institutions in Australia and New Zealand. The shamrock features on the passport stamp of Montserrat, many of whose citizens are of Irish descent. There is also custody and settlement services to institutional customers and fund managers. The English word comes from Irish seamróg, meaning young clover. It also includes managed investments, life insurance, superannuation and discount broking. It has subsequently become an emblem of Ireland, but has official status in neither Northern Ireland nor the Republic of Ireland—the official emblem of the Republic is the harp.

Wealth Management designs, manufactures and services financial products to allow customers to create, manage and protect their wealth. According to what the Oxford English Dictionary calls "a late tradition" (first recorded in 1726), the plant was used by Saint Patrick to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. This covers the asset accumulation, investment management and life insurance operations in Australia and New Zealand. It is registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization as a symbol of Ireland. Investment, superannuation and general and life insurance products are also sold through the branch network. The Shamrock is also used as a badge for sports teams, state organisations and troops abroad from Ireland - Aer Lingus, IDA Ireland, University College Dublin, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Fáilte Ireland use is as part of their identity. Westpac is a major home loan provider and also serve the finance needs of business customers with a turnover of up to $20 million. The shamrock was traditionally used for its medical properties and was a popular motif in Victorian times.

This includes deposit taking, transaction accounts, credit cards and other lending. The shamrock, an unofficial symbol of Ireland, is a three-leaved young white clover, sometimes (rarely nowadays) Trifolium repens (white clover, known in Irish as seamair bhán) but more usually today Trifolium dubium (lesser clover, Irish: seamair bhuí). These five business areas are:. Westpac's core businesses consist of five main areas of business, through which serves around 8.2 million customers. .

The name is derived from the fact its major operations are in the Western Pacific. The bank began life as the Bank of New South Wales in 1817 (making it the oldest bank in Australia), but after various mergers became Westpac in 1982. Westpac Banking Corporation, usually called Westpac, is the fourth largest bank in Australasia, after the National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Bank and one of the largest banks in the South Pacific. Westpac sold its operation in Niue to Bank of South Pacific.

2004: Westpac begins phasing out the Bank of Melbourne brand in Victoria, the Challenge Bank brand in Western Australia and the WestpacTrust brand in New Zealand. In Tonga, Bank of Hawaii sold its shares in Bank of Tonga to Westpac, giving Westpac 60% ownership of the bank. Westpac now owns 93.5% of Westpac Bank Samoa and Samoan companies and individuals own 6.5%. Westpac offered Samoan investors, who held the remaining shares, the same price it had paid Bank of Hawaii.

Bank of Hawaii sold its interest in Pacific Commercial Bank (42.7%) to Westpac, which held an equal portion. 2001: The government of Kiribati sought to reduce Westpac's share in Bank of Kiribati from 51 to 49%, leading Westpac to sell its shares back to the government. 1973), respectively. 1971) and Banque de Polynésie (est.

1998: Westpac sold its operations in New Caledonia and Tahiti to Société Générale, which merged them with Société Générale Calédonienne de Banque (est. 1997: Westpac acquired the Bank of Melbourne, and subsequently re-branded all Victorian branches as Bank of Melbourne. 1996: Westpac acquired the Trust Bank of New Zealand. Westpac also acquired Western Australia's Challenge Bank, and later adopted the name "Challenge Bank" for all its branches in Western Australia.

1995: Westpac sold its shares in National Bank of Tuvalu to the government, which now wholly-owns that bank. 1992: Westpac recorded a 1.6 billion dollar loss, which at the time, was the largest loss for an Australian corporation. In both places Indochine functioned as the bank of issue until 1966-7.). (Banque de l'Indochine, which later merged into Banque Indosuez, had established itself in New Caledonia in 1888 and in Papeete, Tahiti in 1905.

Westpac bought Banque Indosuez's operations in New Caledonia and Tahiti. 1990: Bank of New Zealand sold half its shares in Bank of Tonga to Westpac and half to Bank of Hawaii, giving each of them 30%. Westpac also acquired HSBC's operations in Fiji and the New Hebrides. 1988: Westpac acquired the European Pacific Banking Corporation in the Cook Islands and a HSBC subsidiary, the Solomon Islands Banking Corporation, which HSBC had established as a branch in 1973.

1987: Westpac established a branch in Niue that is the only bank in that country. 1981) in Tuvalu (ex-Ellice Islands), taking 40% of the shares as well as a 10-year management contract. 1985: Westpac replaced Barclays Bank in the National Bank of Tuvalu (est. Bank of Kiribati also fulfilled the functions of a reserve or central bank.

1984: The original agreement between BNSW and the government in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands expired and Westpac and the government of Kiribati formed Bank of Kiribati Ltd as a 51%-49% joint venture. 1982: BNSW merged with Commercial Bank of Australia to form Westpac Banking Corporation ("Westpac" being a conjugation of "West Pacific"). 1969), in which Bank of Hawaii had had an ownership interest since 1971. 1977: BNSW formed Pacific Commercial Bank Ltd, in Samoa in a joint venture with Bank of Hawaii, by buying into Pacific Savings and Loan Company (est.

1975: It incorporated its local business in Papua New Guinea as Bank of New South Wales (PNG) Ltd. 1974: The Bank of New Zealand (20%), Westpac (20%), Bank of Hawaii (20%), and the Government of Tonga (40%) established The Bank of Tonga as a joint venture. 1971: It established a branch in the New Hebrides(now Vanuatu). 1970: It established a branch on Tarawa in Kiribati (ex-Gilbert Islands), which also took over the government savings bank.

It resumed operations in 1946. 1942: BNSW suspended operations in Papua New Guinea as the Japanese Army captured many of the towns in which it had branches and agencies, and bombed Port Moresby. 1931: It acquired the Australian Bank of Commerce, which had branches in both New South Wales and Queensland. 1927: BNSW acquired the Western Australian Bank.