Westpac’s chief financial officer, six months into the job, is leaning on strategies previously used at National Australia Bank to squeeze more efficiency from the Sydney-based lender.
The executive team has engaged Bain & Company to hunt for additional savings and help redesign operations, according to two people familiar with the mandate.
Westpac declines to comment on the consultancy’s role, keeping the arrangement deliberately low-profile.
Under the bank’s current chief executive, the changes on the table look anything but minor.
Behind the scenes, Bain & Company is understood to be working with senior leaders to streamline Westpac’s organisational structure and simplify how decisions move through the bank.
The mandate reportedly focuses on trimming complexity, reshaping internal reporting lines and sharpening accountability across business units.
Executives are also said to be exploring deeper operational efficiencies, pushing past earlier rounds of cost-cutting.
That approach mirrors the structured, consultant-led playbook previously deployed at National Australia Bank to overhaul processes and reduce expenses.
Westpac’s reset is playing out in stark contrast to the louder transformation underway at ANZ, where the chief executive is pushing through a highly visible sweeping overhaul.
Westpac’s leadership prefers a slower, more discreet approach, even as the changes look equally significant for how the bank functions day to day.
The pressure on major lenders is intensifying to strip out costs and raise returns in a tougher operating environment.
The real test now is how far Westpac is prepared to go with structural change without triggering the kind of public upheaval seen at its rival.
