Half Year 2023 Westpac Banking Corp Earnings Presentation Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Victor German - Macquarie Research - Analyst : I was hoping 2 questions if possible; one on margins, one on costs. On margins, one of the trends that we've seen with your peers is deterioration in margin quarter-on-quarter. And if I look at your statement on where you've landed with margins peaking in October and being only 2 basis REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 08, 2023 / 12:00AM, WBC.AX - Half Year 2023 Westpac Banking Corp Earnings Presentation points down and the exit rate suggests that you've seen much more stable margin performance quarter-on-quarter. I'd be interested to hear if that is, first of all, correct. And any observations you can offer us how you were able to achieve that and whether there's potential risk as we are going into next year with respect to mortgage competition and deposit competition. And then I have a second question on costs, if possible.

Question: Victor German - Macquarie Research - Analyst : So the costs question is, you've given us, I think, on Slide 10 cost-to-income ratio, and it looks like you're not materially different to peers with respect to that measure. You're walking away from a fairly ambitious cost guidance that you've had before. I'd be interested in kind of how do you want us to think about costs from here, Do you think that you will be sort of tracking a bit closer to peers or is there, in your view, still material differentiation in terms of what you can achieve on costs in the next couple of years?

Question: Victor German - Macquarie Research - Analyst : So it will be fair, at least for the short-term, so next half, next year, is it fair to assume the costs will start to increase from here as it is with consensus and inflationary pressures?