IN THE past year the five major banks operating in WA have been jostling for a stronger grasp of the WA market.
Despite this, WA’s home bank, BankWest, remains the undisputed leader in terms of total deposits and loans placed, according to the just released data from the Business News 2000 Book of Lists.
BankWest’s exposure to the WA market was more than double it’s nearest rival, the Common-wealth Bank.
BankWest has about $9,000 million in deposits while the Commonwealth has almost $4,500 million in WA deposits.
While BankWest’s leadership position has never been under question, the ranking of the “Big Four” has changed when compared with the 1999 Book of Lists.
Westpac/Challenge Bank has fallen from second to third in 2000 while the Commonwealth Bank has gone up one spot to second.
National Australia Bank has climbed one place to fourth at the expense of the ANZ Banking Group which has fallen to fifth in the latest Business News list.
Another bank making strong inroads under the leadership of managing director Ed O’Neal is St George Bank Limited.
In 1999, St George had deposits of $156 million and about $1,100 million in loans written out to Western Australians.
A year later, with the help of a comprehensive advertising campaign, the Bank has lifted its deposits held to $486 million with loans of $1,729 million – making it the sixth largest bank in WA.
All this was achieved with only one WA branch compared with around 80 WA branches held by each of the top five banks.
Other banks to gain ground in WA included AMP Banking which lifted its deposits held to $144 million from $84 million in 1999.
Colonial State Bank doubled its deposits to $40 million while it’s loan book increased from $145 million to $375 million, according to the Business News Book of Lists.
