Westpac chief executive Peter King will hang up his boots next month with a feeling of satisfaction. And rightly so. Having been called out of near-retirement to steady the ship in the wake of the AUSTRAC scandal, King has overseen a turnaround to be proud of.

The bank is much slimmer than it was, courtesy of 10 major asset sales, and focused again on its heartland of retail and business banking. Westpac’s risk management systems are in much better shape, King says. Best of all, Monday’s full-year result demonstrated something investors haven’t seen for some time: loan and deposit volume growth converting to revenue growth.