Westpac dominated the broker news agenda last week with a series of headline-grabbing stories.
After breaking away from the other Big Four banks to announce Australia’s lowest interest rate at the end of last week, they had their crown ripped away from them by Homestar Finance, who undercut their offering by 5 points to set a new low rate.
Then, on Thursday, Westpac announced that they were selling off their Lenders Mortgage Insurance section to Arch Capital in a loss-making deal that saw them enter into a ten-year exclusive supply deal to use Arch’s services to insure their offerings.
That was just the external news. Internally, Westpac underwent a significant restructure, combining their consumer and business divisions into a single entity in a cost-cutting exercise. Guil Lima, who had headed up the business section for 15 months and who had steered them through the pandemic, departed the group.
He wasn’t the only major figure to leave the bank this week, too. Phil Waugh, the former Australian rugby union international turned banker, quit Westpac on Monday, leaving his role as Head of Private Wealth North to become Executive, Broker Distribution at NAB.
Amid all that, Westpac also announced a partnership with TAFE NSW to offer small business education courses across Australia, though given the upheaval, you could be excused having missed it.
NAB made a move late this week to cut their two-year fixed rate to 1.89%, still higher than Westpac’s 1.79%, and discussions will surely be taking place at CBA and ANZ.
Enjoy your weekend, and watch this space.
