Westpac to hire hundreds of bankers in business lending push

[SYDNEY] Westpac Banking plans to hire 350 bankers and turn more to artificial intelligence (AI) as it ramps up business lending.

In an update on its business and wealth unit on Tuesday (Sep 2), the Sydney-based bank said that it had hired 135 bankers in the first half of 2025 and plans to add another 350 by the 2027 financial year.

Chief executive officer Anthony Miller, less than a year into the role, is ramping up business banking by cutting the time it takes to write deals and using real-time AI assistants to help its customers. Earlier this year, he hired Paul Fowler from rival Commonwealth Bank of Australia to run the unit.

Westpac’s digital tool, dubbed BizEdge, allows faster processing for business loans. The bank said that it’s slashed deal times to between six and eight hours, down from more than 14 hours previously.

Westpac also pinpointed regional Australia as a key area of opportunity to grow its market share. It’s expanding this presence with three new service centres in regional New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. BLOOMBERG