Westpac ramps up cost-cutting measures
Westpac Banking Corp. aims to reduce its costs by almost 40% by cutting back on non-core businesses. This could lead to more insurance businesses being abandoned in Australia and New Zealand. The Sydney-based financial services group posted triple earnings growth over the past half year as the Australian economy recovered from COVID-19. The gain of AU $ 3.54 billion (NZ $ 3.81 billion) compared to AU $ 993 million a year ago was credited to a reversal in impairment charges. Westpac posted an impairment gain of AU $ 372 million in the first half of fiscal year 2021, after posting a loss of AU $ 2.24 billion in the first half of 2020. According to a report by S&P Global, Westpac, Australia's third largest bank, plans to cut its costs to AU $ 8 billion by 2024, from AU $ 12.7 billi...