A clear and focused strategy, motivated and engaged employees, a deep understanding of our customers, disciplined implementation and strong leadership have been the secrets to our success.
In my final report as your Chief Executive Officer, it seems appropriate to reflect on the past nine years. I’m proud to say those years tell a story of success. It is a team story, the history of a sustained collective effort. And it’s in this that the pride and satisfaction lies.
My agenda
I want to look back on the things that underpinned this success. Running a large company like this one means running two systems – an economic system and a social system. At every point they connect and depend upon each other. To succeed companies must mesh these systems, with the fewer seams the better. For nine years this has been our objective. As the competitive battle became more intense, it was how we fortified ourselves.
The experience has been good for us. Over the course of the last decade we made our strategy and management disciplines smarter and stronger, and as we did our confidence in them grew. The reward has been a decade of consistently strong and resilient financial outcomes, local and international recognition for the way we do business and the lead we’ve given on sustainability. In the past decade I have seen Westpac transformed. It was and remains a bank; but it is also an integrated and diversified financial services corporation..