Drivers of our success
Our success has not come by chance. We developed a firm strategy and followed it through all the stages of implementation. We set out to reach a better understanding of the needs of our customers and employees and then to meet those needs. We recognised that we could not succeed without highly committed and well-trained employees, and now I’m pleased to say we have them.
These are the drivers of our success and they will remain so into the future.
From the beginning we set out to clarify and re-focus our strategic direction. We did it according to three principles. First, we believed that concentrating on customers and establishing long-term, multi-product relationships with them would deliver the most consistent and favourable returns. Second, we believed that superior execution was essential and therefore we needed the right people in the right positions and the right values in the company culture. And third, we believed that investment had to be focused on sectors where there was strong growth, and where we were well positioned and had the talent to succeed.
All businesses need a healthy return on equity and we are no different. But in the risk-averse nineties we had focused too much on return on equity alone. Returns are not enough – companies need returns and growth.
Growth focus
So, while we set about re-orientating our investments towards growth opportunities, we remained focused on our core markets. We didn’t discount international opportunities, but we saw the prospects for growth in the Australian and New Zealand financial services sectors and decided they were the best options. And they are the markets we know best.
We acquired Rothschild, BT Financial Services, and Hastings – all growth businesses. And now we have reached an agreement to acquire the RAMS franchise distribution business.
Our wealth management strategy has dramatically reconfigured our portfolio towards higher growth. I count this among our most important achievements in the past decade. It goes without saying that it is central to our ongoing success. Wealth management has the highest growth rate of all our businesses. It offers high returns relative to banking, and it is relatively low risk. More importantly, it is an opportunity in our own back yard; predominantly with existing customers.
And, the results speak for themselves. Our wealth earnings have more than tripled in just five years, increasing from around 5% of Group earnings to 12%. And, there’s more growth to come – we expect wealth to account for almost 20% of our Group earnings within the next three years as BT continues to expand its share in one of the largest and fastest growing private pension environments in the world.
During this time we have also divested lower growth, non-core businesses such as AGC, custody services and our foreign banknote business.
Our success has not come by chance. We developed a firm strategy and followed it through all the stages of implementation. We set out to reach a better understanding of the needs of our customers and employees and then to meet those needs. We recognised that we could not succeed without highly committed and well-trained employees, and now I’m pleased to say we have them.
These are the drivers of our success and they will remain so into the future.
From the beginning we set out to clarify and re-focus our strategic direction. We did it according to three principles. First, we believed that concentrating on customers and establishing long-term, multi-product relationships with them would deliver the most consistent and favourable returns. Second, we believed that superior execution was essential and therefore we needed the right people in the right positions and the right values in the company culture. And third, we believed that investment had to be focused on sectors where there was strong growth, and where we were well positioned and had the talent to succeed.
All businesses need a healthy return on equity and we are no different. But in the risk-averse nineties we had focused too much on return on equity alone. Returns are not enough – companies need returns and growth.
Growth focus
So, while we set about re-orientating our investments towards growth opportunities, we remained focused on our core markets. We didn’t discount international opportunities, but we saw the prospects for growth in the Australian and New Zealand financial services sectors and decided they were the best options. And they are the markets we know best.
We acquired Rothschild, BT Financial Services, and Hastings – all growth businesses. And now we have reached an agreement to acquire the RAMS franchise distribution business.
Our wealth management strategy has dramatically reconfigured our portfolio towards higher growth. I count this among our most important achievements in the past decade. It goes without saying that it is central to our ongoing success. Wealth management has the highest growth rate of all our businesses. It offers high returns relative to banking, and it is relatively low risk. More importantly, it is an opportunity in our own back yard; predominantly with existing customers.
And, the results speak for themselves. Our wealth earnings have more than tripled in just five years, increasing from around 5% of Group earnings to 12%. And, there’s more growth to come – we expect wealth to account for almost 20% of our Group earnings within the next three years as BT continues to expand its share in one of the largest and fastest growing private pension environments in the world.
During this time we have also divested lower growth, non-core businesses such as AGC, custody services and our foreign banknote business.