Return to Westpac for New Zealanders

By KEVIN TAYLOR

The "Trust" is about to disappear from the WestpacTrust name.

Westpac is proposing the name change, according to an internal memo circulated last week.

The disappearance of the word "Trust" reflects the final submergence of the Trust Bank brand. In 1996, Australian firm Westpac bought Trust Bank New Zealand for $1.3 billion and created WestpacTrust.

A memo to WestpacTrust staff dated September 26 from Mike Pratt, a Westpac executive responsible for New Zealand, urged that the proposal be kept confidential.

Pratt, who is based in Australia but also spends time in New Zealand, said he had asked a team to look at the merits of keeping the WestpacTrust name or using "Westpac in New Zealand".

"Over the past two months we have been doing customer and staff research to get the views of our key stakeholders."

He said an "exciting staff, customer and media launch" was being planned for the name change.

WestpacTrust spokeswoman Jane Anderson said yesterday that the bank had no comment to make on the memo.

Massey University senior banking studies lecturer David Tripe said a name change should come as little surprise.

"I think the name change would have happened anyway, because it's confusing to have Westpac and WestpacTrust."

The WestpacTrust name had simply been Westpac with Trust tagged on the end, he said, describing it as a clumsy name.

WestpacTrust has had other changes in recent months: the resignation of chief executive Tom Gallagher in May and the shift of the bank's head office to Auckland.

Gallagher has yet to be replaced and Pratt has been responsible for operations in New Zealand.