Westpac Banking Corporation, usually called Westpac, is one of the largest banks in Australasia. The bank began as the Bank of New South Wales, but after various mergers became Westpac in 1982.
1931: It 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.
1970: It established a branch on Tarawa in Kiribati (ex-Gilbert Islands), which also took over the government savings bank.
1971: It established a branch in the New Hebrides. The next year HSBC and Commercial Bank of Australia (see below) also established branches.
1974: The Bank of New Zealand (20%), Westpac (20%), Bank of Hawaii (20%), and the Government of Papua New Guinea as Bank of New South Wales Ltd. (PNG).
1977: BNSW formed a joint venture in Samoa with Bank of Hawaii, Pacific Commercial Bank, by buying into Pacific Savings and Loan Company (est. 1969), in which Bank of Hawaii had had an ownership interest since 1971.
1982: BNSW merged with Commercial Bank of Australia to form Westpac Banking Corporation ("Westpac" being a conjugation of "West Pacific").
1984: The original agreement between BNSW and the government in the 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: Westpac 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: Westpac 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. Westpac 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.
1990: Bank of New Zealand sold half its shares in Bank of Tonga to Westpac and half to Bank of Hawaii, giving each of them 30%. Westpac 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 Indochine functioned as the bank of issue until 1966-7.)
1995: Westpac sold its shares in National Bank of Tuvalu to the government, which now wholly-owns that bank. Westpac also acquired Western Australia's Challenge Bank, and later adopted the name "Challenge Bank" for all its branches in Western Australia.
1996: Westpac acquired the Trust Bank of New Zealand.
1997: Westpac acquired the Bank of Melbourne, and subsequently re-branded all Victorian branches as Bank of Melbourne.
1998: Westpac sold its operations in New Caledonia and Tahiti to Société Générale, which merged them with Société Générale Calédonienne de Banque (est. 1971) and Banque de Polynésie (est. 1973), respectively.
2001: The government of Kiribati sought to reduce Westpac's share in Bank of Kiribati from 51 to 49%, leading Westpac 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. Westpac offered Samoan investors, who held the remaining shares, the same price it had paid Bank of Hawaii. Westpac 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 Westpac 60% ownership of the bank.
2004: Westpac begins phasing out the Bank of Melbourne brand in Victoria and the Challenge Bank brand in Western Australia.
Slang
In teenage slang in New Zealand, anything slow can be described as "Westpac" (as an adjective). This is due to Westpac's online banking services being very slow, with transactions only being done each night, with cruel cut-off times.
NewSouthWales is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the E., by Queensland on the N., by South Australia on the W. and by Victoria on the S. It lies between 28° and 38° S. lat., and 141° and 154° E. long.
In the extreme south-east of NewSouthWales, at the head of the Genoa river, are sandstones with Archaeopteris howitti, which are an extension of the Lower Devonian beds of Victoria; while farther to the east, at Eden and Twofold Bay, are Upper Devonian sandstones.
Banking.-Thebanks of issue number thirteen; their paid-up capital amounts to £13,918,000 and the capital and reserves to £19,319,000, but of this sum only about £9,000,000 is used in the state.
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