Westpac reviews its NZ business
Westpac is actively canvassing the future of its New Zealand business because of new requirements put in place by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) the big banking group said it was assessing the appropriate structure for its New Zealand business and whether a demerger would be in the best interests of shareholders.
“Westpac is in the very early stage of this assessment and no decisions have bene made. This will also consider the impact of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s reviews announced today,” it said.
“Westpac NZ is a valuable part of the Westpac Group and has been for over 160 years. The business continues to perform well with a strong position in retail and commercial banking. However, given the changing capital requirements in New Zealand and the RBNZ requirement to structurally separate Westpac’s New Zealand business operations form its operations in Australia, it is now appropriate to assess the best structure of these businesses going forward.”
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