WBC - Westpac Banking Corporation

[ENP]

Quote from Monopoly...

The bank never goes broke. Investing in a business that cannot go broke? YES PLEASE!

[POSSUM THE CAT]

ENP WBC will fluctuate according to the Trading on the ASX & the exchange rate. NZ$ to A$

[karen1]

Quote from Monopoly...

The bank never goes broke. Investing in a business that cannot go broke? YES PLEASE!

Wonder if your thoughts still hold true, ENP? This link from the Herald this morning: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/3929...-project-crash

Should we be worried?

[macduffy]

All banks make some bad loans but I doubt that this will rank in the top half dozen for Westpac, as a Group, in current conditions.

It's well provisioned for continuing losses in its commercial lending portfolio. Total group assets are $600 billion with Shareholders' funds of $38 billion.

Disc: Holding WBC. Not top of my concerns.

[karen1]

All banks make some bad loans but I doubt that this will rank in the top half dozen for Westpac, as a Group, in current conditions.

It's well provisioned for continuing losses in its commercial lending portfolio. Total group assets are $600 billion with Shareholders' funds of $38 billion.

Disc: Holding WBC. Not top of my concerns.

Thanks for the response. It assuages the concerns somewhat. I wonder if I'll ever stop being a newbie....

[percy]

Thanks for the response. It assuages the concerns somewhat. I wonder if I'll ever stop being a newbie....

Don't worry Karen1 we are all newbies here.Only trouble is some of us are very long in the tooth newbies.
The amount of money Westpac lost here reads a lot but it is only a small % of Westpacs capital.

[karen1]

[QUOTE=percy;312151]Don't worry Karen1 we are all newbies here.Only trouble is some of us are very long in the tooth newbies.

And thanks to you, Percy. I am heading into the above category, having parted ways with my broker a few years ago, so now I stumble along and hope I'm going in the right direction. Time will tell, I guess. Must say I enjoy reading various postings here.

[percy]

[QUOTE=karen1;312282]

Don't worry Karen1 we are all newbies here.Only trouble is some of us are very long in the tooth newbies.

And thanks to you, Percy. I am heading into the above category, having parted ways with my broker a few years ago, so now I stumble along and hope I'm going in the right direction. Time will tell, I guess. Must say I enjoy reading various postings here.

Karen.I have recieved excellent advice on sharetrader.Trust your own judgement and do not be afraid to ask here.

[karen1]

Thank you for your reply Percy. As I am soon to have a lot of extra time on my hands, I will be browsing this site more regularly, and may indeed be back to ask more questions.

[Snoopy]

There are three banks listed on the main board of NZSX, but NAB never trades so that leaves ANZ and WBC
The only significant difference between the two is that ANZ's favourite colour is Blue and Westpacs' is Red. Otherwise they trade on about the same P/E and have near identical forward P/Es, similar dividend yields etc.

So pick your favourite colour.

That post was from thirteen years ago. From today's events, it does look like the answer should have been 'Blue' - or maybe 'Heartland' ;-)

http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-websit...670/343017.pdf

I did some bank buying myself last year and considered Heartland was the better option. No regrets with that decision so far, even though 'in theory' Heartland is a dodgier bank by credit rating. I had considered topping up with WBC (one of my smaller holdings) at the same time, but i did not like what I saw. We had the 'fees for no service' and 'funding pedophile' scandals in Australia last year. That cost both the Westpac CEO and Chairman their jobs. Just recently WBC combined their 'consumer' and 'business' divisions in Australia which smacked of desperate cost cutting to me. Now they are looking at unloading their NZ arm (the news articles said 'sale' but the press release said 'demerge'). NZ used to be their golden goose! They were publicly shamed in NZ by the Reserve Bank for having insufficient capital and not following their own risk procedures today. Was that 'golden goose' laying eggs of 'fools gold'?

So many Westpac branches have closed over the last couple of years, it is difficult to get personal service outside the main centres. I was stuck on the Kapiti coast during the level 4 lock-down and had to travel 30km to my nearest open branch. Westpac consistently rate as the lowest of the big four banks in NZ on net promoter score for consumers. For businesses they rate a little better I believe, and of course they have the government banking contracts. But I do wonder if all the NZ cost cutting was window dressing the NZ operation up for sale all along. They used to claim NZ was their laboratory for trying out new things that if they worked would be fed into the Australian operation. Will a break up of the remaining assets in Australia be next? Westpac has a proud 200 year history in Australia - I think they are the oldest listed business on the ASX. Yet no company lasts forever. You have to wonder with all the Australian government fines, sales of 'superfluous' business units (like Pendal group) and constant restructuring of what is left, whether the Westpac brand has finally run out of puff and is too toxic to continue.

SNOOPY