Westpac New Zealand

In 1861 the Bank of New South Wales opened seven branches in New Zealand.

In 1982, the New Zealand parliament passed special legislation to consolidate the New Zealand operations during the merger of the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Bank of Australia. The act of parliament was known as the Westpac Banking Corporation Act 1982.

In 1996 the community trusts sold Trust Bank of New Zealand to Westpac for $1.2 billion. The two banks merged as WestpacTrust, although the word trust was phased out by 2002.

In 2002, Westpac NZ appointed the first female CEO of any New Zealand bank, with the appointment of Ann Sherry.

In 2004, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand required Westpac to split its New Zealand business and locally incorporate as part of its effort to make sure the bank in New Zealand operated for the benefit of New Zealand. Westpac resisted the move for over one year but eventually agreed to locally incorporate. It created two new entities, Westpac New Zealand Limited, a locally incorporated subsidiary of Westpac Banking Corporation, and Westpac Banking Corporation New Zealand Branch, a branch of Westpac Banking Corporation.

On 29 September 2006 the New Zealand Commerce Commission fined Westpac NZ$5.1 million for hidden foreign transaction fees, with most of the fine being reimbursement to affected customers, in the order of 12% of the fees actually charged. All other banks operating in New Zealand had either already been fined or were awaiting a court case.

In April 2009, Westpac mistakenly increased the overdraft limit of service station operator Leo Gao and his girlfriend Kara Hurring to $10 million instead of the approved $100,000. This sparked the "runaway millionaire" case where Gau and Hurring took $6 million from the account and went on the run overseas. They were finally arrested in 2011 and charged in 2012 but $3.8 million of the missing money was never recovered.

In October 2009, Westpac NZ was required to pay NZ$961 million to the Inland Revenue Department in avoided taxes.

Westpac Migrant Banking

This unit offers banking facilities to those migrating to New Zealand. Bank accounts for migrants can be opened before people arrive in the country, and credit cards and mortgages can be approved before arrival. Westpac Migrant Banking has a representative office in London where accounts can be arranged, although the process can be done remotely from any country.

Alongside its branch and digital-banking network, Westpac has introduced community-banking vans and staffed sites in libraries and shared community facilities. These provide non-cash services such as account opening, loan applications and assistance with digital banking.

Controversies

Funding of coal mining in New Zealand

In 2014, Westpac came under criticism from 350.org for its role in funding mining company Bathurst Resources, which was permitted to mine coal on the Denniston Plateau, claiming that the mine would release up to 218 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Anti–money laundering breach

In 2021, the Reserve Bank issued a formal warning to Westpac for failing to comply with anti–money laundering rules. The Reserve Bank said Westpac's internal systems failed to detect and report almost 8,000 corporate transactions to overseas recipients.

Lending responsibility rules

In late November 2025, the High Court of New Zealand fines the bank NZ$3.64 million for breaching lender responsibility rules.