Westpac And St. George Merger

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Westpac began trading on 8 April, 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales. In the year 1982, the then Bank of New South Wales merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia, naming it as it is today, Westpac Banking Corporation. Westpac has branches and affiliates throughout Australia and New Zealand, contributed by merges throughout the previous years, and the Pacific region, and key financial centres around the world including London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. As at 31 March 2008, Westpac Group had a workforce of approximately 29,000 people around the globe and Westpac Banking Corporation had global assets of $402 billion1. Founded in 1937 as a housing based financial institution, St. George as Australia's foremost building society have now become Australia's fifth largest bank and one of the top 20 publicly listed companies in Australia. St. George has business spanning all the aspects of the financial industry including retail banking, institutional & business banking, and wealth management. The emphasis St. George has on its customers makes St. George stands out from other Australian banks. Customer service is St. George's priority in business culture, they are constantly investing and developing better relationship with its customers2. Westpac and St. George have recently merged as a $16.3 billion group3, making it the largest provider of home lending with a market share of 25% and also Australia's largest wealth platform provider with funds under administration of $108 billion. The merge would create Australia's leading financial services company for customers, shareholders and employees with a AA credit rating complemented by a larger balance sheet and greater access to funding4. Both organizations are proven to be successful businesses with strong branding and most importantly, complementing cultures. Under the proposed merger, St. George's operating model will be preserved and when combined with additional attractive merger terms, is expected to maximize value for customers, shareholders and employees over both the short and long term. Westpac believes that the respective brands would be better able to compete and flourish by belonging to the same larger, stronger entity.

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