Westpac to combine retail and business banking division in major shake-up

Major change fits with Westpac strategy to simplify the bank and to arrest a disappointing performance.

Westpac is poised to announce an executive restructure.

Westpac’s chief executive Peter King has outlined a shake-up that sees it combine its retail and business banking divisions, leading to the departure of business boss Guilherme Lima.

The plan fits into Mr King’s strategy to simplify the bank and to arrest a disappointing performance in Westpac’s business division in recent months.

The amalgamated consumer and business banking operations - a structure Westpac has had in the past - will be run by retail chief Chris de Bruin, who only joined Westpac last month.

Westpac confirmed the changes in an ASX statement on Wednesday, after they were earlier revealed by this publication.

In the statement, Mr King said Mr Lima would leave the group and the changes would become effective March 22.

Mr Lima joined Westpac from HSBC under prior CEO Brian Hartzer about the time that the explosive Austrac legal action hit the bank. It led to Westpac last year agreeing to a record $1.3bn penalty.

Mr Lima was group head of wealth management at HSBC Hong Kong, and joined Westpac as it was also starting to unpick its wealth operations and divest key parts.

On the business bank’s lending growth, Mr King was asked by analysts in February about disappointing performance as Westpac had started to turn around its mortgage lending growth.

At the time, he said the “next phase” for the project was to get that flowing into the small business credit area, where improvements were required.

Mr King on Wednesday said Westpac’s business model enabled it to consolidate divisional management and simplify its structure.

“Our new lines of business operating model has given us a solid foundation for this change, with greater clarity on accountability and a common management approach across each of the six business lines,” he added.

“The combined division will drive simplification of banking and help to reduce cost, including by consolidating support functions. The change will enable more efficient utilisation of common assets such as branches and call centres, and better capitalise on the work underway to improve our capabilities, particularly in service, digital and data.”

Mr King also highlighted that Mr de Bruin had “significant experience” running consumer and business banking at a large multinational bank, as well as a background in fintech and digital banking.

Mr de Bruin joined Westpac from Deem Finance in Dubai and also had a 13 year stint at Standard Chartered Bank, across roles including the Middle East, including as global head of retail products and digital banking.

Mr King thanked Mr Lima for leading the business division over the past 15 months, including through the depths of the COVID-19 turmoil.