Westpac's commitment to NZ seen

By Richard Braddell

WELLINGTON - A multimilliondollar investment in a state-of-the-art dealing room which opens in Wellington today reflects a commitment to local operations at a time other banks are centralising many operations in Australia, says the head of Westpac Institutional Bank, Stephen Moir.

Mr Moir will not say how much has been spent on the facility, except that it is in seven figures. But the new flat dealing screens are just one symbol of the global bank's approach - the same approach which saw it choose Wellington as the centre of its New Zealand dollar trading activities.

The institutional bank, which was set up last year as part of Westpac's goal of becoming a force in the corporate market in New Zealand, has been branded distinctly from its parent, WestpacTrust, but still provides business and advisory services through the retail arm of the bank.

Mr Moir, who joined Westpac two and a half years ago after 22 years in Australia and Southeast Asia, has reversed the trend of treasury operations, which tend to be drawn back to the local bank's parent in Australia.

In Westpac's case, product lines which had previously been run out of Australia have been centralised in New Zealand.

Mr Moir said that, even with the best will in the world, an Australian manager was likely to give only 20 per cent attention to what was happening in New Zealand. Now, in an integrated operation, those products get 100 per cent attention.

Dealing operations and economic research are conducted from the one site on the 15th floor of Mobil in the Park in Wellington. Everyone, including economists, are on the same floor.

"It's getting all the people together in the one place so that we can leverage the knowledge base. It seems so simple in theory, but you practically have to drag people to talk to each other," Mr Moir said.

Westpac has also beefed up its research - Mr Moir admits that it wasn't up to scratch - so that it can deliver better risk management for its own trading, as well as for clients.

Meanwhile, the now-closed Auckland dealing room has been mothballed but is maintained for use as a disaster recovery site. The other half of the institutional bank, its corporate advisory and most of its relationship management, however, is now centralised in Auckland on the 24th floor of its Albert St headquarters.

Again, information exchange is key, and the open plan office has couches and coffee located in its centre - to encourage people to talk to each other.