BT propels healthy Westpac profit



David Morgan
Westpac’s wealth management business represented a key driver for its record $3.071 billion profit announced today.
Westpac chief executive, David Morgan said that BT had remained a profitable growth engine for the bank, with wealth management an increasingly important performer.
“It is an increasingly significant contributor to our bottom line as we capitalise on superannuation and insurance opportunities,” he said.
The bank’s results, announced to the Australian Stock Exchange today, revealed that BT Financial Group’s earnings for the year increased by 10 per cent to $339 million.
The results revealed that BT delivered a return on earnings of 16 per cent and achieved “significant double digit growth in major portfolios including wrap (34 per cent) margin lending (48 per cent), advice sales (32 per cent) and corporate super (18 per cent).
It said a strong pipeline of institutional flows meant BT was exceptionally well positioned for 2007.
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