The big banks are learning that getting out of wealth management is a lot harder than it was getting in, and the WEXIT web remains as tangled as ever.
Westpac CEO Peter King (left) and his predecessor Brian Hartzer have taken divergent strategies on quitting the wealth management business. Andrew Meares
On March 19, 2019, Brian Hartzer, then chief executive of Australia's oldest bank, fronted a news conference to announce that Westpac was belatedly joining its peers in pulling the pin on financial advice.
A decade of regulatory reform and the glaring spotlight of the Hayne inquiry had made the business of providing advice to retail consumers too expensive and risky for a big bank trying to rebuild trust with the public.
Fetching latest articles
Original URL: https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/how-westpac-threw-a-spanner-in-the-wealth-exit-works-20200507-p54qsn
