5,260 people participated in our Managing Your Money workshops

In the last year, our workshop participants were made up of:

• 50% school students
• 37% community groups
• 8% workplaces
• 2% tertiary students

"Westpac provides diverse ways to access financial education through community engagement..."

" - as a result of this intent, I'm confident that we will see more families flourishing.” - Emline Afeaki-Mafile'o

51 new facilitators trained to deliver Managing Your Money workshops in the community

Meet Tiffany

“Over the years I’ve seen that there is a huge gap in financial literacy in schools. I believe that this is an invaluable skill and embedding it early in life is crucial. I wanted to become a Managing Your Money facilitator to make sure that I could play an active role in my local community, supporting the schools to help children learn good money attitudes from an early age and then reinforcing it through their later years of school.”

Newly trained facilitator Tiffany Fenwick joined seasoned facilitator Toni Mills to run a Managing Your Money workshop with Hukanui School for their year 3 and 4 maths classes with over 120 kids participating this year.

Helping Kiwis to weather financial storms

Money Week 2018

At Westpac, we’re all about helping Kiwis grow and this year’s Money Week was all about Weathering Financial Storms - getting prepared for the big “what ifs” in life. It’s such an important topic that a lot of Kiwis aren’t prepared for – so it was an ideal time for Kiwis to reflect on their financial situation, and explore tools and resources that could help improve their financial capability.

Money Week is an annual event organised by the Commission for Financial Capability (the team responsible for sorted.org.nz).

We had plenty of exciting activities during Money Week including our very own quiz on weathering financial storms plus our first series of exciting webinars in English and Mandarin!

Partnered with Ngā Potiki ā Tamapāhore Trust in a new Shared Equity home ownership scheme

Owning a home through shared equity

Westpac NZ is committed to supporting new and innovative ways for Kiwis to access affordable, secure owner-occupied and rental housing. Home ownership is a key pathway to financial independence as well as providing numerous other social benefits. One of the innovative pathways to home ownership we have been supporting is shared equity schemes.

Westpac provides an innovative mortgage solution that allows Ngā Potiki to contribute equity as a co-owner. This reduces the need for a large deposit and brings down servicing costs for the homeowner. The scheme will help 40 new home buyers into their own home. Westpac continues to work with other providers on similar schemes to make home ownership accessible to more people.

1,679 Papakura students and their families supported through the Mana-ā-riki programme

In the last two and a half years since launch, the programme has delivered almost 1,500 Chromebooks, conducted over 7,700 throat swabs and, for the first time, recorded no case of rheumatic fever in 2018.

As part of our sponsorship of the Middlemore Foundation’s Mana-ā-riki programme, Westpac offers financial education courses to build the community’s financial confidence with realistic and practical guidance.

Kootuitui whānau leaders in Papakura spent six weeks last year learning about budgeting, saving for retirement, and more in our Money Skills programme.

Now the students have become the masters. With the whānau leaders having now completed training to become facilitators themselves, with the next intake of students learning from people who have been in similar situations to themselves.

So far two courses have been run by the leaders with a third one run over October and November.

Unlocking pre-fab housing

As part of facilitating innovative new housing solutions Westpac has undertaken a pilot scheme to fund prefabricated houses. Pre-fab houses are quicker and cheaper to build, potentially helping with supply and affordability issues. Banks have traditionally been reluctant to fund these houses due to the difficulty of taking security over the house being manufactured “off-site”. Westpac has partnered with three manufacturers to test an innovative finance solution for customers wanting to use this method to build their own home. Through the pilot, Westpac has funded the completion of two houses and is now expanding the programme into business as usual.

Read more here

Making home ownership more accessible with Welcome Home Loans

Westpac is the largest NZ bank offering Welcome Home Loans, a government-backed mortgage insurance product that makes home ownership more accessible for people with a small deposit that don’t meet Westpac’s standard lending criteria. In the last financial year Westpac helped close to 400 customers into their first home with this product.

Find out more here

Partnering with budgeting services

Westpac is implementing a recent agreement between the NZ Bankers’ Association and FinCap, a charitable trust representing 200 budgeting services in NZ. The agreement will improve cooperation between budgeting advisors, banks and their customers, making it easier for people to receive effective help with their finances.

Reduced operational emissions by 14% in the last two years

Westpac’s operational emissions, or the carbon emitted from travel, paper, waste and electricity use, have reduced by 14% against our 2016 baseline.

Although our consumption of electricity has declined by 7.85%, the amount of carbon we have emitted from electricity use increased by 10% from 2017. This was due to an increase in the Ministry for the Environment ‘emissions factors’ used to calculate the emissions from electricity in NZ, as a result of lower hydro lake levels and more fossil-fuel powered generation in our national grid in 2018.

Highlights for the year include reducing our air travel footprint by 9% through greater use of videoconferencing, using less paper and reducing waste by various initiatives, including introducing 30 worm farms in the Takutai Building in Auckland.

This year we have also included emissions from third-party data centres and have made improvements to the way that we capture and record our gas use.

Replaced 22% of car fleet with electric vehicles or PHeV

Westpac aims to replace 30% of its fleet with electric vehicles (EVs)

This year we welcomed the arrival of 69 new electric and plug-in hybrid cars as we geared up to meet a target of almost 100 electric cars by the end of 2019.

We first added three EVs in late 2016 before committing to convert 30% of our fleet. The cars will be operated from Westpac branches and offices from Albany to Invercargill.

Accompanying the introduction of the cars to the fleet is the largest corporate charger installation in New Zealand.

Key facts:

• A total of 30% of Westpac’s fleet cars will be electric or plug-in hybrid by the end of 2019.
• Almost 200 tonnes of carbon emissions will be removed annually – the equivalent of taking about 43 petrol cars off the road.
• More than 30 NZ organisations have committed to 30% of their fleets being electric by 2019.

The corporate sector has committed to using more than 1,450 electric vehicles by the end of 2019. These will eventually make their way into the used car market at a much lower purchase price than a new EV.

$1.6 billion lent to climate change solutions

Since 2012 our lending to climate change solutions has increased to $1.6bn.

Climate change solutions includes businesses that reduce negative environmental impacts including renewable energy, green buildings, forestry, recycling and waste reduction.

59% decrease in lending to fossil fuel mining and production since 2012

Minimising our exposure to fossil fuel extraction

Westpac is the only New Zealand bank to publish its exposures to both fossil fuel mining and production and businesses providing climate change solutions. Since 2012 our lending to climate change solutions has increased by 45% to $1.6bn, and lending to fossil fuel extraction and production has decreased by 59% to $290m, with lending to coal mining decreasing by 98%. Climate change solutions includes businesses that reduce negative environmental impacts including renewable energy, green buildings, forestry, recycling and waste reduction.

Westpac has a strong focus on continuing these trends and recognises this is one of our most significant opportunities to positively impact the environment.

Opened our new 5-Green Star certified office

Our newest corporate building in Christchurch features special foundations designed to absorb seismic shock and a generator backed up by a bank of PV solar panels gives the new building what our Head of Property Services, Rachel Winder, describes as "A-grade resilience". Environmental initiatives, including energy-efficient glass on the outside of the building, heat exchangers, an artesian well, solar panels on the roof and a sophisticated in-house waste recycling system have helped it to gain a 5-Green Star rating.

Committed to the Climate Leaders Coalition

Westpac is one of 13 founding members of this recent initiative which commits companies to take action on climate change starting with measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, and working with suppliers to reduce emissions. There are now more than 70 businesses committed.

Visit the Climate Leaders Coalition website for more information.

We continue to reduce our waste to landfill

In the last year, waste to landfill has decreased by 15%

From 128,345kg in 2017 to 108,387kg in 2018.

How did we do it?

This year, we:

• Installed 30 worm farms at Head Office to redirect all compostable waste from our catering operation. The harvested worm tea will be used as fertilizer for our indoor plants and can be provided to employees to take home in their garden
• Soft plastic recycling being trialled at Head Office with the aim of rolling out to other corporate buildings in the next year
• Hosted composting and worm farm workshops for employees to take these skills home
• Coffee grounds collected at corporate sites for employees to take home for their gardens
• Custom made Method bins to help sort waste at source across all floors of our corporate sites
• Offer of Bokashis to all our branches to reduce food waste to landfill
• Introduction of fully compostable food packaging from our on site café
• Recycled furniture to local community and sports groups diverted from landfill (Christchurch 20 tonnes, 10 tonnes Wellington, 15 tonnes Auckland)

Click this link to download the case study on Method Bins at Westpac

"When we talk about climate change as the challenge of our generation, what we’re saying is...."

"... that if this generation doesn’t make measurable steps to reduce emissions, the next generation and the generation after that will, unquestionably, experience a hotter climate.

How they adapt to that and its associated problems of drought, sea level rise, ocean acidification, mass migrations and so on, we can only surmise. But that is the legacy of our generation to our children and theirs if we sit on our hands.

We think it's hard because there is no international authority to mandate what we all must do. And we think the changes we could make as individuals seem so ineffectual in the face of such a huge, global problem. But the absence of a global bureaucrat telling us what to do, is the worst reason for us doing nothing.

We know what we must do. We must travel less and use our cars less and use public transport more .. we must consume less (especially plastic) and recycle more … and we must consider the impact on the planet of what we eat. If we all took those simple steps in our daily lives, the world’s temperature would stabilise.

A bank as big as Westpac, that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, can lead this movement. In fact, it must." - Sir Rob Fenwick

Getting New Zealand to act on climate change

Inaction on climate change puts tens of billions of dollars at stake

Taking faster action on climate change could save New Zealand $30 billion by 2050, according to research commissioned by Westpac.

The research, carried out by EY and Vivid Economics, shows New Zealand’s economy could be $30 billion better off if early action is taken to meet our Paris commitment to help keep global warming to less than two degrees Celsius.

Report highlights:

• The research team undertook a scenario analysis that is consistent with the recommendations of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), a voluntary global standard to manage and disclose climate-related risks.
• Two scenarios were mapped out: the central scenario modelled an early and smooth transition by NZ businesses to meet climate obligations. The shock scenario anticipated more than a decade of inaction on emissions reduction, followed by more aggressive action from 2030.
• The modelling shows that NZ can decarbonise towards a two-degree target while achieving economic growth.
• A key difference between the scenarios was the timing of the inclusion of agriculture within the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Other factors included improvements in technology, the purchasing of carbon credits, and the rate of afforestation.
• The modelling indicated the central scenario would create $30 billion more GDP through to 2050 than the shock scenario.
• Agriculture faces challenges in a two-degree aligned economy, but the industry is projected to be better off from an early, phased, introduction to the NZ ETS, rather than a more rapid entry later on.
• Growth is not projected to be evenly distributed. Renewable electricity sources such as wind, hydro and solar will be among those industries to prosper, alongside fishing and non-ferrous metals, while fossil fuel industries will contract.
• A sector’s capacity to decarbonise is positively correlated with projected growth.
• The report also looked at the physical threat posed by climate change to key NZ industry sectors.
• Electricity generation and transport will likely experience physical disruption from climate change but will become a focus for decarbonisation and may see increases in demand.
• Forestry will likely face significant fire risk but be an important sector in the transition to a two-degree economy.
• Drought, wildfires and glacial retreat will likely increase in frequency and cause economic loss and operational disruption for agriculture and tourism, as evidenced by past climate events.

New tool to help farmers gauge carbon footprint

Meridian Energy and Westpac NZ are proud to support a new carbon calculator that gives farmers a guide to the size of their carbon footprint. The tool has been developed by Lincoln University’s Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) and Agrilink NZ, with financial assistance from Meridian Energy and Westpac NZ. It is available at www.lincoln.ac.nz/carboncalculator.

Westpac NZ Head of Commercial and Agribusiness, Mark Steed, wants farmers to know that they are supported in making better choices, both for their farms and the country. “We know farmers care about climate change. Farming is a long-term business and the changing climate is already having an impact. We hope this easy way to calculate their farm’s carbon footprint will help them make decisions and guide the sustainable development of their business.”

It has now been updated to give farmers a quick approximation of their carbon footprint; it is not intended to replace detailed greenhouse gas modelling tools. As carbon can be a very abstract concept, the calculator compares a farm’s greenhouse gas emissions to the distance travelled in a car, or the area that could be planted to offset their emissions.

Supported Azwood to turn waste into fuel

Who’s Azwood?

Nelson-based Azwood Energy are ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainability.

While businesses today are changing to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly, Westpac customer Azwood, which produces fuels for industrial and residential heating, already did this in the 90s.

“About 20 years ago, this business decided to move away from coal and into something that was a bit more environmentally friendly and a bit more future thinking,” says Operations Manager Ben Crawford.

When the 40-year-old family owned business began, the fuels they were producing were less environmentally friendly. But now they are focused on carbon neutral wood fuels, which according to the EECA, are “a form of bioenergy. The carbon released by burning wood is equal to the carbon absorbed by trees during growth.”

“At Azwood we believe strongly in being resourceful making the most of what we’ve been given,” says Ben.

“Wood fuels are renewable, easily accessible, and the environmentally responsible thing to do,” says Ben.

And being in Nelson, there’s no shortage of very high quality wood to go around. Working closely with the local forestry industry, Azwood are able to take the waste created in the felling process and put it to good use.

“You’re taking something that would typically be a waste and turning it into something of value,” Ben says.

Azwood Energy’s wood energy is used for both industrial and residential customers, and New Zealand as a whole is catching on.

“We’re taking away people’s reliance on fossil fuels, particularly coal,” Ben says.

“We’re having a positive impact on the environment, keeping the waterways clean, and also stopping residues from entering the general environment. That’s choice.”

Remained a carbon neutral bank

Westpac purchased 6,333 NZ carbon units to off-set carbon emissions, and maintains its carbon neutral status.

We play a critical role in carbon trading and carbon market finance in Australasia.

We are the first and only institution to make a market under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZETS).

Find out more about our carbon trading here.

See how you can reduce your environmental footprint

How you can help

Many of us spend time enjoying the wonderful beaches, forests and lakes of Aotearoa. Let's do our part to keep New Zealand beautiful and fight climate change. Here are some ways to keep our planet green.

1. Bring your own shopping bags

New Zealand uses 1.6 billion plastic bags annually. Many of the plastic bags end up in the ocean. Bringing your own shopping bags to the supermarket is an easy way to reduce waste and save marine life.

2. Divert your rubbish from landfills by composting your food scraps and recycling

You can recycle pretty much everything. Containers in the kitchen, bottles in the bathroom and paper products. Composting too is nature’s way of recycling. A good rule is to add nothing larger than your little finger.

3. Support clean sources of energy

The energy sector produces 87% of all carbon-dioxide emissions in New Zealand. Start drying your washing in the sun and putting your dishwasher on just once a day. Choosing to hang your washing outside instead of using the dryer saves $50 a year and up to 27 kg of CO₂e each year.

4. Walk, bike or take public transport

There are at least 3.9 million vehicles in New Zealand. The gases in vehicle emissions like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and benzene are damaging to health. Play your part by walking to work – cycling, carpooling or taking public transport when you can, and reap the benefits of an increase in your health, plus saving on parking.

12,002 hours volunteered by our people to help our local communities

Our people are given one day every year to support their communities, whether by facilitating Managing Your Money workshops, fundraising for a great cause, mentoring young people or a new business or rolling up their sleeves to help people in need.

The top ten organisations that we volunteered for were:

• Auckland City Mission
• Meals on Wheels
• Eat My Lunch
• Special Olympics
• Auckland Women's Refuge
• Riverside Sports Club
• Sustainable Coastlines
• Rescue Helicopters
• Motuihe Island Trust
• Auckland Zoo

Awarded two White Camellia Awards for promoting gender equality

Westpac is committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace.

The awards are for ensuring the health, safety and well-being of all workers; and promotion of education, training and professional development for women. These reflect Westpac’s focus on creating a strong culture of care.

Jennie Ryan, Head of Learning, Talent & Culture said, “Our wellbeing strategy encompasses everything from family and community connections to financial wellbeing, shared values, fulfilling work, and mental and physical health."

Judges noted Westpac had separate harassment and bullying policies, supported by extensive training, as well as a Code of Conduct.

Jennie said Westpac often partnered with other organisations, collaborating with national domestic abuse charity Shine on initiatives to help ensure employees were protected from domestic violence and with Alzheimers New Zealand to become New Zealand’s first dementia-friendly bank.

“In both these instances, we were initially motivated by a desire to help our people and our customers, but we have also freely shared our policies and programmes with other businesses and organisations so as to improve lives throughout the wider community,” said Jennie.

Supporting our people through our We Care Fund

To support employees in need we established the We Care Fund, initially using the proceeds from the sale of a small seaside cottage donated by Stan Brittain, a former General Manager of the bank.

The fund can provide financial assistance of up to $5,000 if an employee/dependent family member is experiencing financial hardship.

Throughout the year employees fundraise for the fund, such as bake sales and donate through payroll giving. Since its inception in 2017, the We Care Fund supported 57 employees during times of need.

"The Bank’s scale and broad reach puts it in a strong position to bring together New Zealanders..."

"... through its community initiatives, encouraging the benefits of a diverse, inclusive and sustainable society.

Customers must be at the centre of every business. By embedding its purpose: ‘to help its customers financially, to grow a better New Zealand’, Westpac is ensuring customers are at its heart, and taking a holistic approach to ensure a strong future for both the Bank and society." - Anne Norman CNZM

Me aro ki te hā o Hine-ahu-one – Pay heed to the mana of women.

This whakataukī serves to remind us that we all have a responsibility to take a stance to eliminate violence against women.

The right to be safe from violence is a fundamental right, affirmed in the international human rights standards.

Troubled by NZ’s terrible domestic violence statistics Westpac became NZ’s first organisation to obtain the “DV Free Tick” accreditation from SHINE. Raising awareness of domestic violence, training people leaders and providing comprehensive support to victims – as well as those worried about their anger management issues – is making a real difference to those affected by domestic violence.

Read more here

Promoting flexible working

At Westpac, all roles are flexible by default to enable our employees to work in ways that suit them and their families as well as our business.

Despite a large number of our employees working flexibly in some way, we wanted to remove some of the continuing barriers to working flexibly and tackle some of the old attitudes that still exist. One of the initiatives we launched was encouraging employees to “leave loudly” when working flexibly. For us, work-life balance is key to attract the best talent and build an inclusive workforce, which ultimately provides better customer outcomes.

• 638 employees work part-time (14.9% employees)
• 64% employees have informal flexible arrangements (65% females, 63% males)
• 26 employees were given formal flexible working arrangements, i.e. changed roles to have better work-life balance

Making our banking services dementia friendly

How are we being dementia friendly?

• We make banking easier for the 3,500+ customers who have dementia or other vulnerabilities.

• 2,000+ employees have been educated about dementia.

• 80% of our branches have a dementia friendly layout (lighting, signage, flooring, quiet rooms).

• We have adopted dementia friendly architectural design principles for all future branch layouts (The Terrace is the first example of new designs).

Westpac NZ and BTNZ signed up to the UNFI Tobacco Free Pledge

Joining a growing chorus of financial institutions, Westpac NZ and BT Funds Management New Zealand (BTNZ) have recently signed the Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge.

‘The Pledge’ has a goal of placing a spotlight on leading financial organisations that have moved to tobacco free finance, and it encourages others to follow suit.

Westpac NZ will not provide finance for the purposes of growing tobacco or manufacturing tobacco-based products. For BTNZ, becoming a signatory to The Pledge is a continuation of their current strategy, given the divestment of all investments in companies involved in the manufacturing of tobacco products last year.

Promoting a culture of giving

Westpac matches its employees’ charitable Givealittle donations dollar for dollar.

In the last year, we donated $24,780 and these are some of the organisations that were supported:

• ADC Incorporated
• Amnesty International NZ
• Arthritis New Zealand
• Auckland City Mission
• Auckland Women's Centre
• Auckland Zen Centre
• Child Cancer Foundation
• ChildFund New Zealand
• Christians Against Poverty
• DC Rescue Dogs
• Essentially Men / Men Being Real
• Forest & Bird
• Graeme Dingle Foundation
• HUHA - Helping You Help Animals Trust
• KidsCan Charitable Trust
• Maia Health Foundation
• Mary Potter Hospice
• Neurological Foundation of New Zealand
• New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust
• New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation
• New Zealand Red Cross
• One Percent Collective
• Oxfam NZ
• RainbowYOUTH
• RAW Charity (Reclaim Another Woman)
• Shine
• SPCA Auckland
• SPCA New Zealand
• St John
• Starship Foundation
• Stroke Foundation
• Tauranga Women's Refuge
• Tearfund
• The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ
• The Kitten Inn
• The Methodist Mission
• The Outpawed Rescue Trust
• The Salvation Army
• UNICEF New Zealand
• Upper Hutt Animal Rescue Society Inc
• Variety -The Children's Charity
• Wellington SPCA
• Westpac Rescue Helicopter
• World Vision New Zealand
  

Female leaders could boost the economy

At Westpac NZ, women hold 52% of our management positions

We commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to quantify the benefits to the economy if all NZ businesses had 50% women in leadership.

The result was a possible $881m boost to the economy.

Read the full report.

Raising mental health awareness in our communities

Together with Sir John Kirwan, Westpac helps kiwis understand mental illness and encourages open lines of communication. Westpac and JK run a national programme where JK shares his personal story of depression, resilience and hope with our communities. Since launch in 2013, JK has shared his with story with over 25,000 Kiwis.

Greerton Bank Manager supports homeless

Greerton Bank Manager, Deborah Lee, teamed up with Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services Trust to address problems of homeless people begging.

Deborah came up with an alternative whereby bank customers and others can make a donation at an ATM or over the counter, which then goes to the Trust to provide meaningful help for the homeless.

Kia Kaha te Reo Māori

Embracing te Reo

During Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2018 Westpac used 128 digital display boards in branches to welcome customers in te reo Māori and Māori sign language, with shorter versions appearing on ATM screens.

We also produced videos to encourage branch employees to use the correct pronunciation of their town and the meaning of the place name.

On more than 600 of our ATMs we have translated 2,409 English words into te reo Māori, to support the goal of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori: ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’/‘Let’s make the Māori language strong'.

Recycled 1,138 computers via Digital Wings

Digital Wings acts as a bridge between corporations and communities, building relationships and making it simple for business to responsibly dispose of their tech waste.