Merger successful

Press, 14 June 1983, Page 29

Merger successful

The New Zealand board of Westpac Banking Corporation was to have met in Christchurch yesterday, but the closing of Christchurch Airport prevented three directors from attending. However, the Christchurch director, Mr Peter Polson, told a meeting of businessmen that the merger of the Bank of N.S.W. and the Commercial Bank of Australia gave Westpac 21 per cent of the trading and savings bank business in the country.

“If we widen the horizon to include our affiliates, AGC and CBA Finance, the Westpac group does about 13 per cent of all financial activity in New Zealand,”

Mr Polson said. “This bigger bank, with its wide range of interests, called for a much greater local participation and representation of viewpoints. The New Zealand board has been constituted with that in mind, to advise not only general management in New Zealand but also to the parent board in Australia,” he said. Eight months after the merger of the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Bank of Australia, Westpac has amalgamated 14 duplicated branches throughout New Zealand, three of which are in the South Island. “By the time of our first

anniversary on September 30 we expect to have merged 20 branches” Mr G. Thompson, Westpac’s general manager for New Zealand, said. Westpac’s two branches in Armagh Street will merge in July and the Bank’s Hereford Street branches will merge in September. Staff have been fully informed, and customers are in the process of being advised. The success of the merger so far has depended greatly on the dedication and hard work of the bank’s staff. For their part, the merging banks agreed that there would be no staff redundancies relating to the merger, Mr Thompson said.