While the challenges are great, so are the opportunities
This year our employees, customers and partners have put significant effort and commitment into improving the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of all New Zealanders. Here are a few of our highlights.
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:
For the second year in a row, Westpac NZ has been recognised in the top five organisations in Deloitte’s 2018 Annual Review of the State of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Australia and New Zealand.
The review surveys employee perceptions of an organisation’s CSR priorities and management capabilities which are needed to recognise, understand and implement good CSR practice.
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 see 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.
In the last year, our workshop participants were made up of:
Westpac New Zealand has a target to replace 30% of its fleet with electric cars (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:
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.
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:
As a major bank in New Zealand, we’re challenged every day with how we approach our economic, social and environmental impacts. We take this responsibility very seriously and take pride in ensuring that we’re doing the very best for our people, communities and environment.
In New Zealand, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) have recently completed a four-month investigation which found the culture and conduct of NZ banks is generally good. However their report found we need to go harder and faster on putting in place better systems and safeguards. We will be implementing their recommendations:
As part of our drive to ensure all our employees are focused on good outcomes for customers, in 2018 we launched an organisation-wide ‘Better Customer Outcomes’ culture programme. 3,159 of our employees have so far completed this programme.
While the regulators’ report found the cultures of NZ and Australian banks are quite different, we will continue to closely watch the Australian Royal Commission to ensure we apply any lessons relevant to NZ.
Using the latest technology to protect our customers from fraud
With attempted electronic bank fraud on the rise we work hard to keep our customers’ money safe. We employ a highly-skilled team of fraud and security experts and deploy the latest technology to keep up with fraud, scams and money laundering. In the last year alone we prevented over $22 million in fraud targeted at our customers.
Westpac has long recognised that climate change is one of the most significant issues that will impact the long-term prosperity of our economy and way of life. Managing the impacts of climate change requires collaborative efforts with industries such as dairy and energy generation, to limit global warming, while also taking steps to help the economy and communities become more resilient to the expected effects. As a major financial institution, we have a fundamental role to play in this process.
Understanding how climate change will affect our customers is the basis of effective action. Our Climate Change Impact Report released in April 2018 identified different industries expected to be most affected by climate change. We used models to quantify the financial and reputational risk on those sectors arising from the need to lower their greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation risk). We also identified industries that are subject to heightened risks from the physical effects of climate change. Through lending to both these sets of industries, Westpac is indirectly exposed to climate change related risks.
Westpac’s lending exposure:
We continue to further enhance our knowledge of climate change related risks, aiming to better understand their exact nature and extent for our customers and ultimately for us as their bank. This will enable us to better understand our own exposure and – most importantly - support our customers to become more resilient against the physical effects and help the transition to a low carbon economy.
Like banks across the world, Westpac is facing one of the biggest ever changes to the banking sector as customers demand greater control over the transactional aspects of their finances.
The evolution of banking is directly linked to customers’ uptake of new technology. Today 70% of New Zealanders own a smartphone and active mobile banking users are growing at 20% per annum. Digital logins for Westpac have increased 26% and digital sales have increased 22% in the last year.
At the same time, transactions through our branches are declining. This presents many challenges. We need to ensure our physical network makes business sense but we also need to ensure we serve all our customers including those who are not yet active online. In the past year we have merged five of our branches in urban areas, while at the same time opening one new branch, and relocating and re-opening four substantially refurbished and upgraded branches. We have also increased the number of smart ATMs in our network, which perform some key branch functions, such as taking deposits and dispensing change. We also continue to partner with SeniorNet which helps older New Zealanders become digitally active.
We believe people will continue to play a central role in banking and we continue to explore new ways that we can use technology to connect customers with our bankers around New Zealand.
For the first time in history, organisations globally and in New Zealand have four generations in the workforce at the same time, and we live in a multi-cultural society, which is reflected in the communities we serve.
It is important our workforce is inclusive of the diversity of gender, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation in our communities. This provides us with a unique challenge and an opportunity to fully leverage the diversity of skills, resources, thinking and approach to build organisational strength. We have a number of initiatives underway to achieve greater alignment with our communities and customers, including five Employee Action Groups (EAGs) to drive action and support on these diversity focus areas:
New Zealand, like many developed countries, faces the challenge of an aging population. We also face growing wealth inequality. As demand for government superannuation grows, there will be more onus on individuals to fund their own retirement. Yet recent research shows more than one in three Kiwis are struggling or just getting by. High household debt is a concern for the Reserve Bank, with household debt-to-income currently at 168 percent.
Improving financial wellbeing is a crucial challenge, one that banks must play a key part in addressing, in the hopes of improving wellbeing, reducing hardship, increasing investment and growing the economy.