the defunct airline see western pacific airlines . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message westpac banking corporation type public traded as asx wbc nzx wbc nyse wbk industry banking financial services predecessor bank of nsw est. 1817 ; commercial bank of australia founded 1982 ; 34 years ago 1982 headquarters westpac place sydney australia number of locations 1 429 branches 3 850 atms 1 area served worldwide key people brian hartzer ceo and managing director lindsay maxsted chairman products finance and insurance consumer banking corporate banking investment banking investment management global wealth management private equity mortgages credit cards revenue a 21.642 billion 2015 2 net income a 08.012 billion 2015 2 total assets a 812.156 billion 2015 2 number of employees 32 620 2015 1 website www.westpac.com.au www.westpac.co.nz westpac banking corporation more commonly known as westpac is an australian bank and financial services provider headquartered in westpac place sydney . it is one of australia s big four banks . its name is a portmanteau of western pacific . as of november 2015 westpac has 13.1 million customers and is australia s largest branch network with 1429 branches and a network of 3850 atms . the bank is australia s second largest bank by assets . 1 it is also the second largest bank in new zealand . on 29 january 2015 bank south pacific announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire westpac s banking operations in samoa cook islands solomon islands vanuatu and tonga for a 125 million . contents 1 history 1.1 westpac is formed 2 core business activities 2.1 consumer bank 2.2 business bank 2.3 bt financial group 2.4 westpac institutional bank 2.5 westpac new zealand 2.5.1 naming rights 2.6 atm alliance 2.7 westpac migrant banking 2.8 pacific banking 2.9 banking alliance for women 3 corporate governance 3.1 board of directors 3.2 executive team 4 controversy 4.1 manipulation of benchmark interest rates 4.2 us federal reserve borrowings 4.3 funding of coal mining in new zealand 5 corporate responsibility 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit wbc headquarters in sydney established in sydney in 1817 the bank of new south wales bnsw was the first bank in australia . edward smith hall was its first cashier and secretary . 3 during the 19th and early 20th century the bank opened branches first throughout australia and 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 . 1927 bnsw acquired the western australian bank . 1931 bnsw acquired the australian bank of commerce which had branches in both new south wales and queensland . 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 . it resumed operations in 1946 . 1968 bnsw joins databank systems limited consortium to provide joint data processing services . 1970 bnsw established a branch on tarawa in kiribati ex gilbert islands which also took over the government savings bank . also the company first became listed on 18 july 1970 . 1971 it established a branch in the new hebrides . the next year hsbc and commercial bank of australia see below also established branches . 1973 bnsw became the corporate sponsor of the rescue helicopter service started by surf life saving australia . the service is known today as the westpac life saver rescue helicopter service 1974 the bank of new zealand 20 % bnsw 20 % bank of hawaii 20 % and the government of tonga 40 % established bank of tonga as a joint venture . 1975 bnsw incorporated its local business in papua new guinea as bank of new south wales png . 1977 bnsw formed pacific commercial bank in samoa as a joint venture with bank of hawaii buying into pacific savings and loan company est. 1969 in which bank of hawaii had had an ownership interest since 1971 . westpac is formed edit 1982 bnsw merged with the commercial bank of australia to form westpac banking corporation . wbc was framed with the mission to become a significant western pacific bank from which the westpac portmanteau is derived . the brandname incorporated the w which had been the logo of the bank of new south wales popularly known as the wales . 1984 the original agreement between bnsw and the government in the gilbert and ellice islands expired and wbc and the government of kiribati formed bank of kiribati as a 51 49 % joint venture . bank of kiribati also fulfilled the functions of a reserve or central bank . 1985 wbc replaced barclays bank in the national bank of tuvalu est. 1981 in tuvalu ex ellice islands taking 40 % of the shares as well as a 10 year management contract . 1988 wbc 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 . wbc also acquired hsbc s operations in fiji and the new hebrides and established a branch in niue that is the only bank in that country . hsbc had established its branch in fiji only some 18 months earlier . 1990 bank of new zealand sold half its shares in bank of tonga to wbc and half to bank of hawaii giving each of them 30 % . wbc bought banque indosuez s operations in new caledonia and tahiti . banque de l indochine which later merged into banque indosuez had established itself in new caledonia in 1888 and in papeete tahiti in 1905 . in both places l indochine functioned as the bank of issue until 1966 7 . 1992 wbc recorded a 1.6 billion dollar loss which at the time was the largest loss for an australian corporation . in this environment the bank dismissed staff and raided the superannuation citation needed to sustain its viability . in the process wbc came close to insolvency and slipped from being australia s largest to third largest bank . citation needed 1995 wbc sold its shares in national bank of tuvalu to that country s government which now wholly owns the bank . 1995 wbc acquired challenge bank in western australia . 1996 wbc holdings nz bought trust bank a chain of regional banks owned by community trusts for nzd1 .2 billion to form nz largest bank westpactrust . the bank had promised to keep the funding to community trusts flowing and to keep trust in its name . however community trust funding has slowed to a trickle and in 2002 the bank launched a major rebranding which included dropping the trust from its name . the merger of wbc and trustbank also saw the closure of many branches around new zealand . in towns and cities where both wbc and trustbank existed the bank merged redundant branches into a single branch ; also it closed down many branches in rural areas and outer suburbs . 1996 wbc sold challenge bank to the bank of melbourne . 1997 wbc acquired bank of melbourne in victoria paying an estimated price in excess of a 1.4 b. wbc retained the rights to the bank of melbourne name and logos but in 2004 rebadged the branches as westpac . in 2011 westpac relaunched the brand . 4 1998 wbc sold its operations in new caledonia and tahiti to soci t g n rale which merged them with soci t g n rale cal donienne de banque est. 1971 and banque de polyn sie est. 1973 respectively . 2001 the government of kiribati sought to reduce westpac s share in bank of kiribati from 51 to 49 % leading wbc to sell its shares back to the government . bank of hawaii sold its interest in pacific commercial bank 42.7 % to westpac which held an equal portion . wbc offered samoan investors who held the remaining shares the same price it had paid bank of hawaii . wbc now owns 93.5 % of westpac bank samoa and samoan companies and individuals own 6.5 % . in tonga bank of hawaii sold its shares in bank of tonga to westpac giving wbc 60 % ownership of what is now westpac bank of tonga . 2002 wbc acquired bt financial group and rothschild australia asset management . 2004 the reserve bank of new zealand required wbc to incorporate its nz branches network . wbc sold its branch in niue to bank of south pacific . 2008 former st george bank ceo gail kelly appointed chief executive officer and managing director . 2008 wbc announced that it intended to merge with the 5th largest australian bank st george bank for a 19 billion . 5 the holders of about 95 % of st george s shares voted in favour of the merger . 2008 on 17 november the federal court of australia approved the merger of westpac and st.george . 2008 & 2009 secret funds are secured from the federal reserve of usd 1.09 billion . see secret bailout 2007 & 2008 2011 during july st george branches in the state of victoria were rebadged as bank of melbourne branches . in early february 2012 westpac announced plans to axe more than 400 domestic jobs and another 150 offshore jobs . this action was a response to much slower growth over the past several years and the desire to rationalise following westpac s 2008 merger with st. george bank . 6 february 2013 westpac selected oracle s exadata database machine and exalogic elastic cloud solutions to support the ongoing deployment of oracle based master data management mdm applications with the overall aim to achieve a single view of its customer information . 7 core business activities edit the structure involves five key divisions including consumer bank commercial and business bank bt financial group westpac institutional bank and westpac new zealand . these five divisions serve more than 13 million customers . consumer bank edit consumer bank is responsible for sales and service of its 9 million consumer customers in australia assisting them with their everyday banking needs . the division covers all consumer banking products and services under the westpac st.george banksa bank of melbourne and rams brands . activities are conducted through the consumer bank s nationwide network of 1 429 branches third party distributors call centres 3 850 atms eftpos terminals and internet banking services . business bank edit the business bank is responsible for sales and service of its small to medium enterprise commercial and agribusiness customers in australia as well as asset and equipment finance and operates under the westpac st.george banksa and bank of melbourne brands . business and corporate customers businesses with facilities typically up to 150 million are provided with a wide range of banking and financial products and services including specialist advice for cash flow finance trade finance automotive and equipment finance property finance transaction banking and treasury services . sales and service activities for business and corporate customers are conducted by relationship managers via business banking centres internet and customer service centre channels . bt financial group edit main article bt financial group bt financial group btfg is the wealth management arm of the westpac group which following the merger with st.george bank limited also includes the wealth division of st.george . btfg designs creates and distributes financial products that are designed to help its customers achieve their financial goals by administering managing and protecting their assets . funds management operations include the manufacture and distribution of investment superannuation and retirement products investment platforms including bt wrap and asgard private