Westpac Banking Corporation News

Dec. 22 -- James Shugg, a senior economist at Westpac Banking Corp., talks with Bloomberg's Judith Bogner about the British economy.

Asian stocks fell, led by financial companies, on expectations the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next year and after Hong Kong's central bank said the city is at risk of ''sharp corrections'' in asset prices.

Australian banks, under attack from the government for raising home-loan rates by more than the central bank has increased its benchmark, have given Governor Glenn Stevens room to pause after a record three increases .

Dec. 17 – The New Zealand dollar hit a one-month high against its Australian counterpart after Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Ric Battellino talked down the prospect of further rates hikes across the ditch.

Westpac Banking Corp. raised A$2 billion from bonds backed by home loans in the first such sale by one of Australiaa s top four lenders since the global financial crisis began in 2007.

European stocks fell for the first time in six days as the Federal Reserve signaled it will remove most emergency measures and Standard & Poor's cut its rating for Greece.

Australia's Westpac Banking Corp. this week issued A$1bn of prime residential mortgage-backed securities .

Dec. 16 -- James Shugg, senior economist at Westpac Banking Corp., talks with Bloomberg's Scarlet Fu about the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy and the U.S. economic recovery.

Australiaa s monetary policy is a oenow back in the normal rangea after lenders raised business and home-loan rates by more than the central bank has increased the overnight cash rate target, Deputy Governor Ric Battellino said.

The Australian stock market has received mixed leads from the offshore trading session overnight, with Wall Street lower in mid-afternoon trade in New York but oil was higher and precious metals were mixed.

Westpac Banking Corporation has launched its first residential mortgage backed securities issue in two years, giving the securitisation market one of it biggest deals since the onset of the global financial crisis.

A SURPRISE surge in full-time job advertisements has raised the prospect that the worst of the employment crisis is over.

The federal government's deposit guarantee has helped the big four banks take an even greater share of the mortgage market, but borrowers will return to non-bank lenders because they offer a better deal, says mortgage broker Resi Home Loans.

Westpac's bananas about rates Westpac explain raising their interest rates in this web animation.

WESTPAC has been criticised for sending an email to hundreds of thousands of customers in which it likened rises in mortgage repayments to the cost of banana smoothies going up after plantations have been ravaged by storms.

" The New Zealand dollar may be heading for a tumble after credit concerns in Europe and the Middle East further eroded investors' appetite for higher yields and put risk currencies such as the kiwi and Australian dollars under pressure.

Westpac go bananas about rates Westpac explain raising their interest rates in this web animation.

WESTPAC has been hit by further resignations from its Community Consultative Council after it raised its mortgage rate by almost double the Reserve Bank's recent rate rise - just one day after a round-table discussion about financial hardship.

Westpac said today in an update on its transformation and integration with acquisition St George that it would transition to the "next generation of Hogan" as its deposits platform.

Australia's second biggest lender, Westpac Banking Corporation, has appointed an executive to lead the bank's transformation program.