Westpac looking to offload Pacific operations

Westpac is set to divest well over $3bn worth of non-core assets.

Westpac is believed to be close to selling its Pacific banking operations, according to sources.

The Australian bank is set to divest well over $3bn worth of non-core assets, including its wealth management platform, general insurance business and car and auto loans business as well as the Pacific Bank.

This was after Westpac announced in May while delivering its interim results that it would create a “specialist businesses” division, overseen by Jason Yetton, along with other units that were non-core, such as insurance.

While the identity of the buyer remains unclear, logical acquirers for the Pacific Bank would be Papua New Guinea’s largest bank, Bank South Pacific or French bank BRED, which owns subsidiary BRED Bank Fiji.

Westpac sold South Pacific banking operations in 2015, including those in Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga to the Bank South Pacific for $125m.

At the time, this left Westpac with its operations in its largest Pacific markets of Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Westpac has been the longest serving bank in Fiji for 113 years and the first bank in PNG.

Some believe that Goldman’s would also be a logical adviser for Westpac on the Pacific Bank’s sale, given that it worked on ANZ’s divestment of smaller banking operations in Asia.