FINANCIAL SERVICES
By David James Kina Bank has consolidated its position as PNG’s second largest bank, and also taken a first step towards becoming a regional bank, by acquiring the assets of Westpac in PNG and Fiji. Kina’s CEO and Managing Director, Greg Pawson, who was formerly the General Manager of Westpac Pacific, claimed the acquisition of Westpac’s Pacific Businesses would enable Kina to achieve scale and enhance its regional footprint. ‘The Westpac Pacific businesses are well known to the Kina board and management team and this will assist a seamless customer and employee experience,’ he says, adding that it would create ‘a stronger and more effective banking competitor.’ Kina Bank, through its legal entity Kina Securities, will acquire 89.91 per cent of Westpac’s PNG business and 100 per cent of its Fiji business. The deal is expected to be completed by 30 September 2021. It is subject to regulatory approval in both PNG and Fiji. PNG’s Independent Consumer and Competition Commission started the regulatory approval process in PNG in late March 2021. The bank said in a statement that the move will transform Kina from being ‘a leading digital bank in PNG’ to an ‘atscale regional bank.’ That greater scale is expected to reduce costs relative to income across the group.
New brand Kina will adopt a ‘multi-brand’ strategy according to Lesieli Taviri, Executive General Manager for Banking. She says Kina will create a ‘completely new brand for the acquired business’ and maintain Westpac’s independent commercial banking licence, adding that the merger will ‘continue to disrupt the banking sector in this country’ in a positive way.
PICTURE: KINA
PNG’s banks look to expand
With its planned acquisition of Westpac Pacific, Kina Bank is set to enhance its regional footprint and introduce more competition to PNG’s banking sector. Meanwhile, the country’s largest bank, BSP, is looking at an overseas listing.
THE NEWLY-BRANDED BANK WILL BE INDEPENDENT AND SEPARATE FROM THE EXISTING KINA BANK BRAND.
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‘The newly-branded bank will be independent and separate from the existing Kina Bank brand, and it will compete directly and vigorously with Bank South Pacific (BSP), ANZ and Kina Bank,’ she says. ‘There will be no disruption to customers. No changes to systems or processes, or the way customers go about doing their business. Literally nothing changes except for the name above the door.’ The acquisition is expected to increase Kina’s PNG customer base
