Westpac’s decision to shut its operations in Hong Kong and China continues the steady ebb and flow of Australian banks in and out of Asia.
See also: ANZ, conducting a Standard Chartered-style buildout in Asia before deciding to quit everything except trade and institutional; CBA, the first Australian bank to open a Mumbai branch, to close it six years later; and NAB, which closed institutional offices in Singapore, Korea and Malaysia as well as a Japan securities company.
Even by Australian standards, Westpac was impressively swift to find reverse gear.
It is only two years since the bank was meeting with Chinese regulators to see how it could take advantage of China liberalizing its financial markets. It is only one year since the bank moved into a flash new office on the 54th floor of the Shanghai Tower, where fellow tenants included Alibaba.
Reducing RWAs
Westpac is sticking around in Singapore, which will now be one of only three international branches the bank holds worldwide, the others being London and New York.