BankWest

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Bank of Western Australia
Type	Private
Founded	(1895) Perth, Western Australia
Headquarters	Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Key people	Rodger McArthur (MD), Paul Clark, Chris Whitehead
Industry	Banking and Financial Services
Products	Savings account, home loans, term deposits, credit cards
Revenue	$552 million AUD before tax (2005)
Website	www.bankwest.com.au

Bank of Western Australia (commonly known as BankWest) is a full service bank based in Perth, Western Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS plc of the UK.

Contents 1 Current activities 2 History 3 See also 4 Sources 5 External links

[edit] Current activities

BankWest holds about 25% all bank advances and deposits in the state and serves about 660,000 customers through a branch network, as well as 24-hour telephone and internet banking facilities. It has total assets of A$11bn, which represents a dominant market share in the state of about 25%.

Offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, provide interstate services and these operations account for about half of the Bank's assets.^{[citation needed]} The Bank offers specialist services in the financial markets including foreign exchange, money market and bullion, international banking, equipment finance and project finance.

BankWest runs a highly popular product under the brand name TeleNet Saver, which is an online bank account offering a 6.25% interest rate (6.80% for the first 12 months). This product has gained significant market share from ING Direct and Citibank which also offer online savings accounts.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

The Government of Western Australia established the bank in 1895 as the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia as a rural lender to support the State's farming industries. Technically it was not a bank in that it did not collect deposits from the public, its liabilities being government bonds. It was a government instrumentality that lent exclusively to farmers.

In 1945, it became a full trading bank and changed its name to the Rural and Industries Bank of Western Australia (aka R&I Bank). This enabled it to expand its retail and commercial banking services throughout the state.

The Bank incorporated in 1990, and then in 1994 changed its name to the Bank of Western Australia Limited, with the trading name BankWest, in preparation for privatisation. In December 1995 Bank of Scotland acquired the operation, and as part of the sale agreement, offered 49 per cent of the shares in BankWest to the public. BankWest shares listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on February 1, 1996.

In 2001 Halifax Group (a large UK financial institution) merged with Bank of Scotland to form HBOS plc. HBOS then acquired all outstanding shares to make Bank of Western Australia its wholly owned subsidiary.

[edit] See also

• BankWest Tower
• Timeline of banking in Western Australia

[edit] Sources

• Spillman, Ken. 1989. Horizons: A History of the Rural and Industries Bank of Western Australia. Perth: University of Western Australia Press.

[edit] External links

• BankWest - Official site