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2 months ago | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Josh Wall |Matthew Hassan |Liam Cormican
The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut interest rates for the first time in four years, offering much-needed relief to households struggling with cost-of-living pressures, but sounded a cautious note on the prospect of further easing. The RBA lowered the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.10 per cent at its February board meeting.
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2 months ago | 
westpac.com.au | James Thornhill |Josh Wall |Liam Cormican |Marina Gainulina
The pickup in consumer sentiment in the second half of 2024 has carried over into the new year, although the modest pace of improvement should give the Reserve Bank few grounds for concern on the inflation outlook. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute sentiment index rose 2.6 per cent over the three months to January to 92.1, having languished in the 80s for much of the past two years. However, it remains below the 100 level which points to there being more pessimists than optimists.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Kalp Sanghvi
The theme of this year’s TECHx, Westpac’s annual technology expo, is “the past informs, the future transforms”. It’s a fitting tagline for the event, which is marking it’s 10-year anniversary with a look back on the technological changes that have shaped the bank’s history, alongside an emphasis on inspiring the tech talent of the future. “TECHx is where we bring the community of technology people together.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Marina Gainulina
Another artist making waves is Meagan Pelham, a romantic at heart who describes herself as an "artist, model, poet." Love makes Pelham’s world go round.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Tim Howard
Tim Howard from BT ‘s Technical Services team answers some frequently asked questions on super, tax and social security issues. This time he’s tackling the rules around the use of self-managed superannuation funds to make property investments. Q). I’ve recently established an SMSF so I can use my super to buy property. How is borrowing by an SMSF different to normal residential mortgages? What are the additional considerations of owning a property in this way?
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican
Carpenter says Westpac is ready to help its business customers navigate the transition. “No matter what the client’s level of real-time readiness we can absolutely support them, from readiness planning all the way to realising advantage through the change, with practical support, alternative solutions and proven real-time leadership and change expertise.”The bank offers a range of channels to cater for a wide range of business clients, including PaymentsPlus, QuickStream, and PayWay.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Rachael McKenzie
Laura Bullock is among a growing number of female entrepreneurs who are forging a path to business success in the face of obstacles that are often bigger than those faced by their male counterparts. The number of women managing their own business has increased by 20 per cent since 2014, according to Westpac economic analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data, with the growth rate for women-led businesses outpacing that of men.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Luci Ellis
We have revised our view of the most likely scenario for the path of the RBA’s cash rate, pushing out the start date of the rate-cutting cycle from February to May, but more front-loaded than previously assumed. We now expect consecutive 0.25 per cent cuts at the RBA’s Board meetings in May and July. That would follow a similar pattern to what we’ve seen from international peers including the Federal Reserve and RBNZ and mark an acceleration from our previous forecast of one cut per quarter.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Josh Wall
That liquidity boost is supporting balance sheets: the Westpac business coverage gauge – which measures a business’s stock of cash relative to its financial liabilities - is still more than 25 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. Strong financial buffers have been a feature of the snapshot for several quarters and help to set Australian businesses apart in international comparisons.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
westpac.com.au | Ben Young |James Thornhill |Liam Cormican |Josh Wall
Westpac plans to hire 200 more business bankers over the next three years to boost its capability to support small and medium-sized enterprises in fast-growing industries. The employment drive has potential to increase Westpac’s business banker cohort by up to 40 per cent by the end of 2027 as the bank targets further growth in one of its strongest performing segments. The Business and Wealth division saw net profit grow by 13 per cent in FY24.
