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Westpac (a portmanteau of "Western-Pacific"), is an Australian bank and financial-services provider headquartered in Westpac Place, Sydney. It is one of Australia's "big four" banks. Its formal name is Westpac Banking Corporation, abbreviated to WBC. In November 2011, Westpac had 12.2 million customers, and Australia's largest branch network with almost 1200 branches and a network with more than 2900 ATMs. The bank is Australia's second-largest bank by assets.〔 It is also the second-largest bank in New Zealand. On 29 January 2015, Bank of South Pacific announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Westpac's banking operations in Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga for A$125 million. == History == Established in Sydney in 1817, the Bank of New South Wales (BNSW) was the first bank in Australia with Edward Smith Hall as its first cashier and secretary. During the 19th and early 20th century, the Bank opened branches first throughout Australia and Oceania, at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) in 1850, then in Victoria (1851), New Zealand (1861), South Australia (1877), Western Australia (1883), Fiji (1901), Papua New Guinea (1910) and Tasmania (1910). *1927: BNSW acquired the Western Australian Bank. *1931: BNSW acquired the Australian Bank of Commerce, which had branches in both New South Wales and Queensland. *1942: BNSW suspended operations in Papua New Guinea as the Japanese Army captured many of the towns in which it had branches and agencies, and bombed Port Moresby. It resumed operations in 1946. *1968: BNSW joins Databank Systems Limited consortium to provide joint data processing services. *1970: BNSW established a branch on Tarawa in Kiribati (ex-Gilbert Islands), which also took over the government savings bank. Also, the company first became listed on 18 July 1970. *1971: It established a branch in the New Hebrides. The next year HSBC and Commercial Bank of Australia (see below) also established branches. *1973: BNSW became the corporate sponsor of the Rescue Helicopter service started by Surf Life Saving Australia. The service is known today as the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service *1974: The Bank of New Zealand (20%), BNSW (20%), Bank of Hawaii (20%), and the government of Tonga (40%) established Bank of Tonga as a joint venture. *1975: BNSW incorporated its local business in Papua New Guinea as Bank of New South Wales(PNG). *1977: BNSW formed Pacific Commercial Bank in Samoa as a joint venture with Bank of Hawaii, buying into Pacific Savings and Loan Company (est. 1969), in which Bank of Hawaii had had an ownership interest since 1971. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Westpac」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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