Discuss about the, development and growth of Westpac with strategy of innovation, expansion and customer satisfaction.
The report deals with an Australian organisation Westpac Banking Corporation. It is the provider of the financial services. It is one of the big four banks in Australia (Westpac.com.au, 2018). The purpose of the report is to analyse the organisation using accepted management theory. Relevant literature is used to support analysis. The report starts with the brief trace of the development and growth of the organisation from its beginning to its present. Corporate strategies that were applied by the organisation are discussed. Next to it the report discusses the criticisms pursued over the years by the banks. The outcomes of two of the practices are discussed. The report than performs the environmental analysis for the involvement of the organisation in the context of the industry that it operates in. The main opportunities and threats for Westpac in this context are also highlighted. Further, the report discuses the organisational culture or the leadership style within the organisation. The rationale for this report is to develop the research and the analytical skills, applying the subject theory relating to the organisational processes and technologies. The report is developed to explain how and why the real world problem is managed. The report also explains how the organisations respond to the changes in the environment.
Westpac was founded in 1817. It belongs to banking and financial services. In Australia it is the second largest bank as per the market capitalisation. It is headquartered at Sydney and the total strength of the employees currently, is 13.1 millions. The financial services of the sector are highly diversified. These services are diversified into two segments which are institution oriented and consumer oriented. Other areas that are part of the diversified product portfolio are advisory services and wealth management. Its customer centered divisions are St.George Banking Group, Westpac New Zealand, Westpac Institutional Bank, and Westpac Retail and Business Banking. In addition to high reputation in Australia, the bank has gained immense popularity in New Zealand. It is in collaboration with various foreign banks owing to its membership with GAA (Global ATM Alliance). It has secured high position in foreign exchange services (Vincent, 2016).
The mission statement of the bank is to help members of society in increasing their wealth. It has received top rank by “Institutional Relationship Banking Survey Australia” for providing best wealth solutions. In context of its vision, that is being global leadership in the financial sector, Westpac focused on expansion strategy. Presently, the organisation serves huge mass of Australia and New Zealand by providing financial services. It has now 1429 branches in comparison to 10 branches in 19 and 20th century. . It also serves in Pacific areas but needs to focus more on expansion strategy to spread in other global regions. The company is yet to expand in European nations and US both at consumer and institutional level (Westpac.com.au, 2018). The development of the company so far is because it did not compromise on its stakeholder’s satisfaction. Eventually it delightful customers had turned to loyal customers. Westpac employs strategy of customer satisfaction and team work during organisation’s functions. It is also evident from the positive approach of the organisation towards corporate social responsibility and ethical activities. The organisation believes in change and efficiently handles change management process. It is evident from the innovative ideas in developing wealth solutions and its overcome of $1.6 billion loss in two decade ago, and lawsuits filed against it in last five years. Over years it has helped has helped Westpac in earning high investment returns, and improve work efficiency. In 2015 the revenue of the company was $21.642 billion. It can be attributed to improvement in areas such as operating ratio, liquidity, asset quality and others. This development can be attributed to balance of capital efficiency and capital sufficiency, adequacy and flexibility (Littrell, 2015).
Since 2008, the company has gone through many controversies. In 2016, a lawsuit was mentioned against Westpac by “Australian Securities and Investments Commission”. Such market manipulation was considered an unconscionable conduct. This was due to manipulation of the Australian benchmark rates of interest. Banks have been charged billions of dollars for the manipulation. The chief financial officer denies the allegations put by the “Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)”, the Australia’s financial regulator. The Australian hearing still continues. This was a black spot on the good will of the Westpac. It was unethical and practice against the company’s vision and mission (Mckenna, 2018).
In 2010 the documents by Central Bank highlighted borrowing of billions of dollars by the Westpac in emergency funds at the height of financial crisis, from the US Federal Reserve. Most of the funds were released at the peak of crisis when it was difficult for the banks to manage the day-today funding. It was clearly misuse of the funding window opened by the Federal Reserve. It defeated the attempt to stabilise the financial market. Westpac owned a New York based entity which borrowed $US1 billion from Federal Reserve. It can be interpreted that the Westpac’s borrowing was unusual as it barely has the North American presence. It may have been done to manage the cash flow. This has hit the stakeholder’s expectations to some extent as it was considered that the bank was on verge of bankruptcy. This led to a negative image (Johnston, 2018).
Any organisation is influenced by different environmental factors. It can be categorised as the internal and external factors. Internal factors directly influence the organisation and its different operations. The internal analysis is the scrutiny of the strengths and weakness of the organisation focussing on the internal factors. It will help to know the opportunities and overcome threats. The internal and external environmental analysis is known as SWOT analysis. This tool helps in strategic planning, appropriate decision making and its implementation. The external factors exist outside the organisation and their influence on the organisation is regarded as uncontrollable. The Micro environment consists of suppliers, competitors and marketing intermediaries. The Macro environment consists of economic, social, political, technological, environmental and legal forces. PESTEL analysis is the tool for detailed environmental analysis of any organisation (Shabanova, Ismagilova, Salimov and Akhmadeev, 2015).
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Strength |
Weakness |
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· Strong capital level and asset quality |
· Westpac had to deal with the legal issues |
|
· Strong operating performance |
· It did not meet the profit expectation of the Stakeholders (Allen and Powell, 2012) |
|
· High workforce diversity and customer growth |
|
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· In 2014 Westpac was recognised as “Global 100 most sustainable corporation at Davos” (Littrell, 2015) |
According to Littrell (2015), Westpac has strong asset quality with decreased loans under stress, and mortgages. In 2014, there was decrease by 1.2% in the ratio of stressed assets to total committed exposures. In 2014 there was also increase in cash earnings by 8% and decrease by 23% in impairment charges. It’s recognition as sustainable corporation attributes to these achievements. Other factors that add to its strengths are excellent operating performance across all divisions. In last five years there is 5% increase in revenue and its income ratio was recorded in 2014 as 41.6%. Its strong capital levels and operating performance comes from acquisition of $8 billion portfolio Lloyds Australia. With the help of the Reconciliation action plan, Westpac has been supporting increased percentage of women, aged workers (above 50 years), diverse communities and employees. It can be interpreted as cause of workforce diversity. There is 14% increase in the new customers in last three years owing to its lead in domestic bank and number 1
position in foreign exchange market among other Australian banks (Cummings and Durrani, 2016).
Despite being in lead for 11 years in domestic banking it has several drawbacks. The criticisms due to manipulation of bench mark interests, US Federal Reserve borrowings and funding of coal mining in New Zealand, has added a black spot to Westpac. It failed to meet the stakeholder’s expectation against its value statement. The bank needs to develop dividend reinvestment program and increase return on loans. It must avoid legal issues and rescue customers from late credit card fees that worth million dollars. It must overcome its weakness due to insufficient funds for transactions, late credit card payments, and exceeding credit card limits (Allen and Powell, 2012).
|
Opportunities (Allen and Powell, 2012) |
Threats (Allen and Powell, 2012) |
|
· Westpac can expand its customer base by market penetration strategy |
· Westpac may be influenced by the ups and downs in the financial sector. |
|
· It can improve on its technological development |
· Westpac will be affected by the changes in the Australian banking regulations and economy of any other country having tie ups with Australia |
|
· Business expansion will lead to low operational cost, high profitability and human resource development at low rates |
· There may be threats from the competitors during economic slowdown. |
|
· Reduce complexity of the products and services, product differentiation |
· Risk management |
Westpac can leverage its strengths to expand across different geographies and provide the financial services. It is currently flourishing in Australia, New Zealand, US, UK, Asia, and some pacific Islands. According to NewsComAu (2018) technology improvements can enhance the opportunities of banking sector. With service digitisation Westpac can be available 24/7. Other new services include smart ATMs, improved retail banking with the new digital platform, and business division. The use of apps will help increase the flexibility of finance management by the customers. Westpac has higher penetration in wealth management sector (20.12%). Consequently it is occupying top position in the market. In this segment the bank can further its activities. Moreover, investment in Quintessence Labs has increased the capability of Westpac in technology security area for data protection (Westpac.com.au, 2018). It can increase returns and consumer growth as for any bank encryption of data is of vital importance. Westpac has divided its business into the commercial and business bank and the consumer bank. It has reduced the complexity of the products such as consumer banking products. It can be expected that using the customer focused strategy Westpac can better fulfil its responsibility towards commercial and agricultural business, SMEs, assets and financial equipments. Accountability can be enhanced by hiring one executive for each segment of business. In customer centric growth strategy, it is the new opportunity due to dedicated marketing capabilities of Westpac and its product (Westpac, 2018).
Central bank may tighten the monetary policy in Australia owing to economic slowdown as per Abbott, Wu and Wang (2013). If the requirements for the capital reserve ratios are increased by APRA, then the bank would be restricted in paying their dividends. It would reduce the returns and lead to dissatisfaction among shareholders, institutions and households. In addition, Westpac is competing with different investment banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, management companies as well as competitors from other sectors. There is high competition for deposits in Australia. In comparison to the last two decades, there is decease in credit growth, which increases the competition in the lending sector. It is argued by Strong, Cater-Steel and Lane (2014), that there may be continuous growth in the price competitions for mortgages and their market capitalisation. It may be less likely to reduce in future. There may be risks associated with the banking operations. It may be caused by adverse capital market state, foreign government default, loss of good will and reputation, and due to poor strategic decisions. If these risks are not managed properly, it could adversely influence the financial performance, business, and deteriorate the position of Westpac.
The political factors influencing Westpac are focus on the budget repair, foreign investment policy, and four pillar policies. There is an estimation of decline in the Australian economic growth. There are chances of prudent budgetary allocations. Such decision by the government may affect the bank funding. The foreign policy allows the foreign banks the right to acquisition of stake, which if found to be more than 15% for a financial sector company, and then it should be approved by the Treasurer. This is in accordance with the Financial sector Act 1998. The four pillar policy by the Australian government mandates atleast four banks to maintain the competition. This also increases competition from other banks (Evans, 2014). The Economic factors that are influencing the banking industry in Australia is tightened monetary policy. A lowered GDP, moderate employment, and controlled inflation would help maintain cash rate at 2.5% by the Central Bank. With the increase in the Australia’s firm domestic demand, and trade activities, there will be an increase in the international market. There is chance of gradually tightening of monetary policy. There is chance of growth in the business activity with increased deposits and investments. It can be attributed to the non-mining business environment owing to the resource exports and stronger household demands (Gitman, Juchau, and Flanagan, 2015).
The banking sector in Australia is highly influenced by the culturally diverse populations and increasing needs of aging population. However, the bank has managed to arrange for Self managed super funds. It has also initiated online digital platform to open accounts prior to relocation and dedicated team to serve the Indigenous customers, as well as online advisory board. However, the drawbacks come from the increasing unemployment rate. This social factor will highly impact the customer deposit, and subsequently the bank’s earnings (Deegan and Shelly, 2014). In terms of technology, the digitisation of services has improved the customer’s banking style. It has increased the availability of the services along with innovation. Westpac has also started its Touch ID that is fingerprint sensor to allow signing in digital platform via I-Pad. This strategy was welcomed as it improved convenience and increased security. It increases the opportunities to strengthen the customer base and higher returns (Clemes, Gan and Du, 2012). Westpac must overcome the legal issues it is faced with specially the ongoing case for high exception fees and manipulation of benchmark rates to avoid the goodwill risks. Lack of sustainable economy may lead to disturbed banking operations. It is in turn dependent on the sustainability of the environment. Westpac taking actions to reduce the environmental footprints such as green bond an offering of $8 billion to the environmental service sector gives it a positive image as a part of the corporate social responsibility (Westpac.com.au, 2018).
Westpac is practicing inclusive culture, where people work without discriminating in regards to gender, age, identity, culture, disability, work style, insights, sexual preferences, experiences, capabilities, and perspectives. This provides a very learning environment with opportunities for cross-cultural communications. The strategic approach of Westpac in supporting communities and women empowerment in business model has become an integral part of its culture. Currently, 50% of the leadership positions in bank are hold by women. The bank focuses on female leadership parity. The organisation has the culture of giving through number of initiatives such as “Jawun Indigenous Corporate Secondments” and “Matching Gifts: doubling employees’ charitable donations”. The later is the scheme where every dollar given by the employee to the Australian charity groups is matched by the Westpac, by picking up one charity for support and matching donations. This resembles the philanthropic contributions (Brown, 2015).
Conclusion
In the above report, the development and growth of Westpac with strategy of innovation, expansion and customer satisfaction has been discussed. As per the strategic analysis, the company ranks second in the Australian banking sector. Using the environmental analysis, the various areas such as human resources, banking, operation, marketing, CSR and others have been analysed. As per SWOT analysis the strengths of the company such as good will, high capital levels and others were highlighted. The weaknesses such as economic slowdown, segment wise performance analysis were focused. The opportunities with respect to technology and others can be exploited by Westpac in favourable conditions. Westpac can take advantage of emerging economies for globalisation. It can focus on cost and efficiency. Change in banking regulations may be major threats. Despite the dominating position in the market the company is affected by the legal issues. It can be concluded from the PESTEL analysis that the major political factor of concern is focus on the budget repair. From economic perspective, there is chance of tightened monetary policy that may be of disadvantage. However, innovative technological aspects tend to balances the negative forces. It includes the digitisation of services which improved the customer’s banking style. The company’s inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility has led to overall customer preference. It sustains its position among top four banks despite the lawsuits against it. The company was successful in protecting its good will and high returns. It can sustain its position by focusing more on product differentiation, market penetration strategy and segment wise performance analysis.
References
Abbott, M., Wu, S. and Wang, W.C., 2013. The productivity and performance of Australia’s major banks since deregulation. Journal of economics and finance, 37(1), pp.122-135.
Allen, D.E. and Powell, R., 2012. The fluctuating default risk of Australian banks. Australian Journal of Management, 37(2), pp.297-325.
Brown, A., 2015. ASIC: Capability and culture. Australian Insolvency Journal, 27(3), p.45.
Clemes, M.D., Gan, C. and Du, J., 2012. The factors impacting on customers’ decisions to adopt Internet banking. Banks and bank systems, 7(3), pp.33-50.
Cummings, J.R. and Durrani, K.J., 2016. Regulatory Capital and Internal Capital Targets: An Examination of the Australian Banking Industry.
Deegan, C. and Shelly, M., 2014. Corporate social responsibilities: Alternative perspectives about the need to legislate. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(4), pp.499-526.
Evans, R., 2014. Westpac still backs reef destruction. Green Left Weekly, (1033), p.11.
Gitman, L.J., Juchau, R. and Flanagan, J., 2015. Principles of managerial finance. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Johnston, E., 2018. NAB, Westpac tapped into US Fed’s emergency funds. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: <https://www.smh.com.au/business/nab-westpac-tapped-into-us-feds-emergency-funds-20101202-18i89.html> [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].
Littrell, C., 2015. Balancing safety, stability, efficiency and competition: Finding the balance for Australia’s major banks. JASSA, (3), p.44.
Littrell, C., 2015. Balancing safety, stability, efficiency and competition: Finding the balance for Australia’s major banks. JASSA, (3), p.44.
Mckenna, G., 2018. ASIC is now chasing Westpac for ‘market manipulation’ of benchmark interest rates. [online] Business Insider Australia. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/asic-is-now-chasing-westpac-for-unconscionable-conduct-and-market-manipulation-of-benchmark-interest-rates-2016-4> [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].
NewsComAu, 2018. Lender enjoys big profit. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: <https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/westpac-has-lifted-fullyear-profit-three-per-cent-to-8062-billion/news-story/64b65b1cb0387ee00833b98542e72e9e> [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].
Shabanova, L.B., Ismagilova, G.N., Salimov, L.N. and Akhmadeev, M.G., 2015. PEST-Analysis and SWOT-Analysis as the most important tools to strengthen the competitive advantages of commercial enterprises. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(3), p.705.
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