面试必备！澳洲西太平洋银行WestPac SWOT分析

Westpac Banking Corp - Consumer Finance - Australia Euromonitor International : Local Company Profile March 2010 Westpac Banking Corp - Consumer Finance Australia  Euromonitor International Page i List of Contents and Tables Strategic Direction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Key Facts ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Summary 1 Westpac Banking Corporation: Key Facts......................................................................... 1 Summary 2 Westpac Banking Corporation: Operational Indicators ..................................................... 1 Company Background............................................................................................................................................ 1 Competitive Positioning.......................................................................................................................................... 2 Summary 3 Westpac Banking Corporation: Competitive Position 2008 .............................................. 3 Westpac Banking Corp - Consumer Finance Australia  Euromonitor International Page 1 WESTPAC BANKING CORP STRATEGIC DIRECTION • The biggest thing to happen to Westpac in 2008 was the acquisition of St George Bank, the fifth largest bank in Australia, and one of the most aggressive lenders. At the same time, new CEO Gail Kelly is attempting to focus more on retail banking and consumer lending, which in 2009 has translated into rapid expansion of Westpac’s mortgage portfolio; a risky proposition during an economic downturn. Westpac’s biggest challenge therefore is to ensure that increasing its lending does not result in unsustainable rises in bad debts. KEY FACTS Summary 1 Westpac Banking Corporation: Key Facts Full name of company: Westpac Banking Corporation Address: Level 20, 275 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia Tel: +61 (2) 9293 9270 Fax: +61 (2) 8253 1888 www: www.westpac.com.au/ Activities: Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Mortgages, Personal Loans, Business Loans, Wealth Management Source: Euromonitor International from company reports, Trade press, Annual Report, Business Spectator, The Sheet, The Age, news.com.au Summary 2 Westpac Banking Corporation: Operational Indicators 2006 2007 2008 Net sales A$9.2 billion A$10.2 billion A$11.1billion Net profit A$3.1 billion A$3.5 billion A$3.9 billion Number of employees 27,224 28,108 28,302 Source: Euromonitor International from company reports, Trade press, Annual Report, Business Spectator, The Sheet, The Age, news.com.au COMPANY BACKGROUND • With a history that goes back to 1817, when the Bank Of New South Wales became the first bank in Australia, Westpac has grown to become the largest bank in Australia when measured by capitalisation. The company is publically traded on both the Australian and New Zealand Stock Exchanges. • In addition to being one of Australia’s “Big Four” banks, Westpac has a major presence in New Zealand – which makes up about a fifth of Westpac’s revenue - and across the South Pacific. The New Zealand economy is performing more poorly than Australia, and which is consequently the major worry in relation to mortgage defaults. • December 2008 saw Westpac acquire St George Bank, which previously had been the fifth largest bank in Australia. At the time of the acquisition – at the height of the global financial crisis - there was considerable concern about the stability of the Australian banking system and so the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) permitted the merger to take place. It is unlikely that the merging of two large banks would have taken place otherwise, since the ACCC sees such large acquisitions as being anti- competitive. The acquisition of St George Bank was facilitated by CEO Gail Kelly, who previously had Westpac Banking Corp - Consumer Finance Australia  Euromonitor International Page 2 been the CEO of St George Bank, and is attempting to introduce the strong retail banking culture of St George Bank into Westpac operations. • Since Gail Kelly became CEO of Westpac in 2008, Westpac has focused more on attracting deposits, instead of the previous focus on lending. This is due to the need to access cheap funds through deposits during the credit crisis. • Like the other three members of Australia’s “Big Four” banks, Westpac has a credit rating of AA, a fact that ensures that it does not suffer from significantly higher interest rates when accessing the global credit market. Westpac is consequently considerably more stable than most other major banks around the globe, although it has suffered considerably from the global financial crisis. This has occurred through a A$700 million exposure in failed Australian companies, ABC Learning, Allco Finance Group and Babcock & Brown. These three companies were the three most spectacular failures of the economic crisis in Australia. • In response to the financial crisis, Westpac decided to embrace home lending, whilst cutting back on unsecured lending, both on credit cards and other forms of personal lending. Business lending has also been significantly reduced, although this is as much due to businesses being increasingly unwilling to invest during a period of economic uncertainty. • With the Australian housing market experiencing strong growth that is being propped up by the Australian Government’s First Home Owners Grant (FHOG), Westpac is aggressively competing in order to gain market share. This fits well with the culture of the recently acquired St George Bank, which had been positioned as a “friendly bank” and therefore one with relaxed lending criteria. Through expanding its mortgage portfolio during an economic downturn however, Westpac is risking the possibility of high levels of defaults over the forecast period, particularly if the recession is long lasting. This is particularly the case since most of the mortgages are being given to first home buyers, recipients of the FHOG, who would otherwise be unable to afford the mortgage deposit. There are therefore growing concerns that through lending to consumers who cannot afford such loans, Westpac is setting itself up for considerable losses during the forecast period. COMPETITIVE POSITIONING • Prior to the merger with Westpac, St George was considered to be a retail bank, with strengths in home lending. Whilst this is a positioning also adopted by Westpac, it has been far more restrained in its borrowing, something which, as a major bank, it can afford to do. St. George on the other hand, as the fifth largest bank in Australia and the primary alternative to the “Big Four” always felt the pressure that it needed to expand. Westpac intends on keeping this “alternative” brand personality of St George, and is therefore adopting a dual-branding strategy. • Gail Kelly, the current CEO of Westpac since 2008, used to be the CEO of St George Bank (between 2002 and 2007) and one of the strengths that she hopes Westpac shall gain from the merger is St George Bank’s customer-centric retail banking culture. There has so far been debatable progress on this front. At the same time, it is to be hoped that St. George Bank shall receive from Westpac, a more conservative outlook in relation to lending. Part of St. George’s brand positioning as an “alternative” to the major banks was its looser credit requirements. This is one area which has changed under Westpac ownership with credit lending now tighter and more conservative. • St George’s Bank is primarily located in New South Wales, which has also had the slowest growing economy in Australia for much of this decade, as well as the highest proportion of mortgage defaults. It is likely therefore that St George shall be responsible for a perilously high number of bad debts over the forecast period and shall be one of the major challenges therefore that Westpac shall face. • Westpac is particularly strong in Victoria, due to its acquisition of Bank of Melbourne in 1997 and Western Australia due to its acquisition of Challenge Bank in 1995. The acquisition of St George Bank shall now ensure that Westpac is strong in Australia’s most populous state. • In credit cards, Westpac focuses more on premium and loyalty based cards, with low rate cards making up only 30% of the portfolio. St. George on the other hand focuses on low rate cards, and has a high proportion of revolvers on its books, meaning that it still earns considerable revenue through interest earnings. For this reason St George did not tighten its credit requirements in 2008, at a time when the remainder of the market was, thereby helping the bank gain market share. Westpac Banking Corp - Consumer Finance Australia  Euromonitor International Page 3 Summary 3 Westpac Banking Corporation: Competitive Position 2008 Product type Value share Rank Debit Cards 18.2% 3 Credit Cards 17.6% 3 Source: Euromonitor International from company reports, Trade press, Annual Report, Business Spectator, The Sheet, The Age, news.com.au WESTPAC BANKING CORP STRATEGIC DIRECTION KEY FACTS Summary 1 Westpac Banking Corporation: Key Facts Summary 2 Westpac Banking Corporation: Operational Indicators COMPANY BACKGROUND COMPETITIVE POSITIONING Summary 3 Westpac Banking Corporation: Competitive Position 2008