page_title: Westpac
section_title: Westpac New Zealand
hierarchical_section_title: Westpac / Core business activities / Westpac New Zealand
caption_attribution_description: English: The new Westpac Building at the eastern end of the Britomart area in Auckland, New Zealand. Looking northwest.
context_page_description: Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian bank and financial services provider headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982 before being renamed shortly afterwards. It is one of Australia's "big four" banks and is Australia's first and oldest banking institution. Its name is a portmanteau of "Western" and "Pacific".
  As of March 2018, Westpac has 14 million customers, and employs almost 40,000 people.
context_section_description: In 1861 the Bank of New South Wales opened seven branches in New Zealand. Currently, Westpac NZ offers a full-service with around 1.5 million customers, 3,000 shareholders and 197 branches nationwide. It is the dominant provider of banking services to small to medium business, corporate and institutional organisations, and is the banker of the New Zealand government. It currently is the second largest bank in New Zealand, after the merger of ANZ and National Bank of New Zealand.
  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 October 2009, Westpac NZ was required to pay NZ$961 million to the Inland Revenue Department (New Zealand) in avoided taxes.
  On 22 July 2014, the firm announced that it would pilot a host card emulation (HCE) mobile payments technology to customers. It was the first bank in New Zealand to actively bring HCE mobile payments to market and one of only a handful of banks globally to be using the innovative 'digital wallet' technology. The three-month trial, using Carta Worldwide HCE technology, enabled customers to securely store and access credit and debit card information in a remote and hosted 'cloud' environment, enabling customers to use their Android smartphones as digital wallets. Soon after, in August 2014, Westpac NZ announced that it would be releasing the world's first augmented bank app, which adds layers of functionality to the digital wallet by enabling users to check account balances, view previous spending behaviours, pay bills and locate their nearest Westpac NZ branch or ATM. The app is also viewable in a 3D format by supported devices.
caption: Westpac NZ's head office in Auckland
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