---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Financial Services
status: done
latency_ms: 148721
conversation_id: 8da9f915-4e42-435c-ba01-a6f07ff16e31
citations: 0
created: 2026-05-31 18:47:12Z
---

# Who are the key customers and suppliers of Westpac?

## Westpac (WBC AU) — Key Customers and Suppliers

Westpac is one of Australia's "Big Four" banks. For a bank, "customers" map to **borrower / depositor segments** and "suppliers" map to **funding sources, technology partners, and capital providers**. The framework below draws on CLSA's coverage of WBC (latest internal note dated 5 May 2025).

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### 1. Key Customers — Borrower / Lending Mix

Westpac's customer base is structured around three core franchises: **Consumer (retail mortgages)**, **Business (SME / commercial)**, and **WIB (Westpac Institutional Bank)**. The 1H25 loan growth profile shows where current customer demand sits:

| Lending segment | 1H25 Loan Growth (HoH) |
|---|---|
| Australian housing (consumer mortgages) | **+2.4%** |
| Australian business | **+5.4%** |
| Australian personal | −0.4% |
| Total Australia | +3.2% |
| Total NZ (Westpac NZ) | +0.1% |
| Group lending assets (GLA) | +2.2% |

Source: CLSA / APRA / Company [2]

**Key takeaways on the customer base**:
- **Mortgage customers (owner-occupied + first-time homebuyers)** remain the single-largest customer segment, with the Australian housing book growing +2.4% HoH in 1H25 [2].
- **Business banking customers (SME + mid-market)** are the fastest-growing segment at +5.4% HoH and are CEO Antony Miller's strategic priority — the bank is explicitly "growing business banking in target segments" and aiming to push the institutional bank back to **No. 1 in market share** [7].
- **Institutional / WIB customers (large corporates, sovereigns, financial institutions)**: institutional loans grew +6% in the 1Q25 update; this is the segment where new CEO Antony Miller is targeting reclaiming No. 1 share [1][7].
- **NZ customers (Westpac New Zealand)** are a discrete franchise but lending has stalled (+0.1% HoH), partially explaining 1H25 core-NIM drag (NZ mortgages contributed only +1bp) [2][9].
- **Industry-level corporate exposure** (committed exposures, %): the customer book is diversified across Wholesale & retail trade (~5.2%), Property (~2.4%), Manufacturing (~4.1%), Services (~3.7%), Agriculture/forestry/fishing (~4.7%), Construction (~4.1%), Mining (~3.3%), and Property & business services (~3.0%) as of Dec-24 [3].

**Customer concentration** is dominated by retail/SME households — domestic retail shareholders also hold a striking ~46.6% of WBC's equity register (vs ANZ 41.3%, NAB 40.1%, CBA 47.5%) [4], reflecting the bank's deep retail franchise on both the asset and ownership sides.

The forward customer-demand outlook from WBC's own economists: **system credit growth of 5–6% in 2025**, business credit accelerating to **7.6% in 2026** [8].

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### 2. Key Suppliers — Funding, Technology, and Capital

For a bank, "suppliers" practically means: depositors (funding), wholesale debt markets, capital providers, and technology / platform vendors.

#### 2a. Funding suppliers (the largest "supplier" line for any bank)

WBC funds its ~A$846bn loan book through three main funding "suppliers":

| Funding source (A$m, FY25CL forecast) | 2024A | 2025CL |
|---|---|---|
| **Customer deposits** | 720,489 | **749,597** |
| **Wholesale funding / other interest-bearing liabilities** | 276,218 | 292,235 |
| **Equity (shareholders)** | 72,052 | 71,973 |
| Total assets | 1,077,544 | 1,140,900 |

Source: CLSA / Company [6]

- **Customer deposits are the dominant funding "supplier"** at ~A$749.6bn forecast for FY25 (vs A$720.5bn FY24), covering ~88% of the loan book (loans/deposits ratio ~112.9%) [6]. In 1Q25, deposit growth of **A$14.4bn outpaced loan growth of A$13.4bn**, a positive funding signal [1].
- **Deposit-mix shift is a structural margin headwind**: customer deposits are migrating from low-cost transaction accounts toward **higher-cost savings and term deposits**, pulling deposit spreads down by 3bps in 1H25 [9].
- **Replicating portfolio (hedged deposits)**: WBC's hedged-deposit replicating portfolio runs for **~4 years** vs ~5 years at peers — meaning WBC has less hedge-roll tailwind than CBA/NAB/ANZ going into FY26 (a key relative funding-cost disadvantage) [9].
- **Wholesale funding** (~A$292bn FY25CL forecast) supplements deposits via senior unsecured debt, covered bonds, and securitization — WBC has flagged "**significant uncertainty in funding markets and the bills/IOS swap rate**" as a forward concern [9].

#### 2b. Technology platform and capability suppliers

Westpac's stated technology "suppliers" / partners are largely internal platforms built or being consolidated under **Project Unite**, plus two named proprietary corporate platforms:

- **Project Unite** — a multi-year tech-simplification programme to consolidate from **more than 180 systems down to fewer than 60**. As of the March 2025 strategy day, discovery was 52% complete, simplify 10%, implement 7%, decommission 3%. Investment is c.A$2bn p.a. over FY25–FY28, with c.A$600m of that in FY25 alone (A$107m in 1Q25) [5].
- **Westpac One** — corporate cash-management platform [5].
- **Biz Edge** — integrated business-lending origination platform [5].

CEO Antony Miller stated WBC's technology stack is **"in line with peers"** in capability; the issue is too many parallel systems requiring rationalization rather than capability gaps [5].

#### 2c. Capital "suppliers" (regulatory capital framework)

- **Tier 1 capital** of ~A$64.8bn (FY24A) with **CET1 ratio of 11.87%** (pro-forma 11.6% post buyback completion) [6].
- **Risk-weighted assets**: ~A$437bn FY24A → A$452bn FY25CL.
- WBC remains subject to an **A$500m capital add-on from APRA** (the prudential regulator — effectively the regulatory "supplier" of capital rules), which the bank expects to edge closer to removing [6].

---

### 3. Strategic Customer / Supplier Direction Under New CEO

New CEO **Antony Miller** (March 2025 strategy day) has defined the customer-facing ambition explicitly:
- **No. 1 NPS scores across all divisions** (i.e., across consumer, business, institutional, NZ) [7].
- **Institutional bank back to No. 1 market share** [7].
- **Grow business banking in target segments** [7].
- Cost-to-income ratio below peer average AND ROTE above peer average by **September 2029** [7].
- WBC is "shifting more towards business lending" — a deliberate customer-mix tilt away from pure mortgage dependence [10].

---

### Summary Table

| Category | Type | Specific names / segments |
|---|---|---|
| **Customers** | Consumer | Australian mortgage borrowers (housing book A$844bn-ish), retail deposit-holders |
| | Business | SME and mid-market (fastest-growing segment, +5.4% HoH) |
| | Institutional (WIB) | Large Australian corporates, sovereigns, FIs (targeting #1 share) |
| | Geographic | Australia (core) + NZ (Westpac New Zealand) |
| **Suppliers** | Funding — deposits | Retail + business + institutional depositors (~A$750bn FY25CL) |
| | Funding — wholesale | Senior debt, covered bonds, securitization (~A$292bn FY25CL) |
| | Funding — capital | Shareholders (~A$72bn equity); APRA-regulated capital |
| | Technology platforms | Project Unite (internal program), Westpac One, Biz Edge |
| | Regulatory framework | APRA (capital add-on of A$500m), RBA (cash rate) |

---

**Sources**
[1] Westpac — HLD (Underlying result roughly in line) — CLSA (17 Feb 2025) — 607950855LinqAlpha.PDF
[2] Westpac — U-PF (Margin headwinds) — CLSA (5 May 2025) — 607957983LinqAlpha.PDF (Figure: 1H25 loan growth table)
[3] Westpac — HLD (Underlying result roughly in line) — CLSA (17 Feb 2025) — 607950855LinqAlpha.PDF (Figure: industry sector exposures Mar-24 to Dec-24)
[4] Westpac — HLD (Underlying result roughly in line) — CLSA (17 Feb 2025) — 607950855LinqAlpha.PDF (Figure 16: major bank shareholder ownership breakdown)
[5] Westpac — HLD (United) — CLSA (28 Mar 2025) — 607954320LinqAlpha.PDF (Project Unite + Westpac One + Biz Edge)
[6] Westpac — HLD (United) — CLSA (28 Mar 2025) — 607954320LinqAlpha.PDF (balance sheet table)
[7] Westpac — HLD (United) — CLSA (28 Mar 2025) — 607954320LinqAlpha.PDF (strategy update — Antony Miller objectives)
[8] Westpac — U-PF (Margin headwinds) — CLSA (5 May 2025) — 607957983LinqAlpha.PDF (loan growth outlook)
[9] Westpac — U-PF (Margin headwinds) — CLSA (5 May 2025) — 607957983LinqAlpha.PDF (1H25 NIM movement table + funding-market commentary)
[10] Westpac — U-PF (Margin headwinds) — CLSA (5 May 2025) — 607957983LinqAlpha.PDF (investment thesis — business-lending shift)

