Our involvement in the Pacific
Westpac in the Pacific has a long history of active participation in local island communities.
We introduced a Pacific-wide version of the Financial First Steps program. The program teaches attendees from various school and community groups fundamental budgeting and money management skills. The program leverages learnings from the Australian, New Zealand and Indigenous versions of the program and was adapted to include specific Pacific Island material.
Our team in Tonga has been visiting local villages, introducing the villagers to financial services such as telegraphic transfers and savings accounts for the first time. Our Fiji team held basic financial literacy programs in the Fijian dialect at village and provincial levels. The workshops are set up through the Provincial Council's business arm and held at the chief village of a province.
Westpac Fiji is working jointly with the Ministry of Education and the Fiji Development Bank, targeting young people to open savings accounts and promote savings education through the Moneysmart program. To date, Westpac Fiji staff have delivered a number of presentations and opened over 3,900 new student accounts.
A number of our Pacific Banking employees were recognised in the Group-wide CEO Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Awards. A Fiji branch team took out the Gold Team Community Award for their outstanding work with the Labasa School for Disabled Children, while a PNG team won the Bronze Team Community Award for their efforts with Port Moresby General Hospital's HIV/AIDS ward.
A Tongan team also received a Special Commendation award for their Walk for Health fundraiser and outreach program that delivered food and household appliances to elderly and disabled residents of island communities in Tonga.
Over the year, Westpac Samoa granted 42 scholarships to college and primary school students. The program has been in place for the last six years and provides support to high performing students from financially disadvantaged families.
Helping the environment
We are committed to managing our impact on the environment and to supporting initiatives with high environmental benefit in the region. The threat of climate change and global warming makes the Pacific particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and flooded homelands.
We are already beginning to see some of the physical impacts of climate change and the flow-on effect this will have on the economies of the region. We are promoting greater awareness of climate change issues so our people can understand its implications for their customers and their local communities.
In 2006, we began measuring and reporting on our environmental performance for the first time. During 2007 we rolled out Bizedoc across the Pacific, an online archival management reporting system which significantly minimises paper usage. We are also using the intranet to house documents so employees can print forms on demand rather than bulk print publications. We also continue to investigate IT options to minimise energy consumption of our office equipment.
Other environmental initiatives include "greening" our Cook Island branch and three residences by using energy saving light bulbs, light sensors, and flat screen monitors for PCs, which dramatically reduced our annual energy consumption.
Westpac Fiji is one of the founding major sponsors of the Rotary Pacific Water for Life Foundation which aims to provide access to clean and safe drinking water in the rural areas of Fiji.
Our lending guidelines state that we will not provide a loan where the purpose breaches environmental law. In relation to resource projects financed in the Pacific, Westpac is a signatory to the Equator Principles.