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Dec 11, 2024 | 
ffnews.com | Lauren Towner |Karl Mohan |Kriti Jain
Crypto.com announced that Deutsche Bank will provide corporate banking services for Crypto.com in Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong, with a commitment to working closely to provide additional banking support and country coverage as the relationship progresses. The banking announcement is a milestone for Crypto.com’s operations and will allow seamless corporate banking capability, enhanced efficiency, and establish a strong banking foundation in the region.
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Aug 6, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Marina Gainulina |Josh Wall
Westpac economists are reviewing their forecast for the first Reserve Bank interest rate cut following a hawkish tone to the latest Board meeting. The RBA left the cash rate on hold at 4.35 per cent this week, as widely expected, while delivering a cautious message on the outlook for inflation. “What is a little puzzling is their view about how long they think they need to keep interest rates steady from here,” Westpac Chief Economist Luci Ellis told Sean Aylmer on the Fear & Greed podcast.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Marina Gainulina |Josh Wall
Westpac is stepping up the fight against impersonation scams in a partnership with Optus that will enable customers to receive verified calls from the bank directly through the Westpac app. Westpac SafeCall will send customers an alert when a call is coming through via the app, showing the Optus verification along with the reason for the call. The feature will be available to all customers regardless of who their telco provider is.
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Jul 28, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Marina Gainulina |Josh Wall
Noema Leituala knew she had a big challenge on her hands as soon as she landed at Cloncurry’s tiny airport. She was about to take on a new role at the local Westpac branch despite never having visited (or even image searched) the mining town in outback Queensland. “I got off the plane with just two suitcases and nothing else. The airport was a little warehouse with a tin roof, and I was like: ‘what have I done to myself!’” Noema says in an interview.
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May 20, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Flora C.Y. Lee |Josh Wall
Westpac recently provided a $75 million loan for ACEN Australia to help progress its roster of projects, extending a relationship which began with the inception of the New England Solar project in 2017. “ACEN Australia is a key partner in helping us to deliver our strategy to finance more renewable energy projects,” says Jason Bowring, a relationship banker with Westpac who specialises in the infrastructure and energy sectors.
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May 15, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Flora C.Y. Lee |Matthew Hassan
Here are some of Pat’s key insights:- While the budget contains measures that will reduce the out-of-pocket cost of essential items such as electricity and medicine, this will also free up income for households to spend elsewhere, so the net effect on inflation evens out. - The government has earmarked $1.2 billion over five years to build more homes and train more construction workers to support social and affordable housing.
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May 14, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Flora C.Y. Lee |Luci Ellis
With this year's federal budget, the government has had to tread a fine line between offering some relief to squeezed households in a way that doesn’t further stoke inflation. The cost-of-living crisis is real. Households are hurting and pulling back on their spending. The government is trying to address that with measures such as increased rent assistance, cheaper energy bills, and increased subsidies for many medications.
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May 9, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Flora C.Y. Lee |Matthew Hassan
Reducing the carbon footprint of Australia’s offices means not just building better, but re-fitting older premises to bring them up to date with modern energy efficiency standards. Commercial real estate accounts for around 10 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions*, mainly via energy consumption, so a sector-wide effort to improve the energy efficiency of offices can have an impact in helping the country meet its climate targets.
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May 8, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Flora C.Y. Lee |Luci Ellis
The Reserve Bank of Australia left the cash rate on hold at 4.35 per cent at its May Board meeting, as widely expected, while strengthening its language around the upside risks to inflation. Inflation is coming down, but not quite as quickly as the RBA wanted or had predicted. March quarter CPI was a little higher than expected and the labour market is somewhat tighter than expected. For these reasons, the Board did consider raising rates at the meeting.
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May 6, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Kriti Jain |Flora C.Y. Lee |Josh Wall
The Social Outfit was founded in Sydney’s Inner West in 2014 with a dual mission to train and employ refugee women while utilising remnant and deadstock fabrics to save tons of material from going to landfill. Like most social enterprises which focus on offering jobs to people who face challenges entering the workforce, The Social Outfit has higher operating costs than for-profit businesses.
