The ratings on Westpac Banking Corp. (Westpac) reflect the bank's good diversity of income streams across business units in Australia and New Zealand, solid financial profile, and robust asset quality against local and international peers'. Management is leveraging off a combination of business, financial, and sustainability initiatives to drive profitable growth. This has resulted in consistently strong shareholder returns over a five-year period. Although business division lending growth has been above market, Westpac's consumer lending growth has been below peers', and its market share in this area has fallen slightly. The bank's net interest margin declined for the half-year to March 31, 2005, reflecting asset and funding mix changes and competitive market conditions. The margin decline, however, was well contained
