WBC

Australia Post has unveiled a Digital MailBox initiative earlier, such a service allowing customers to access all their confidential letters and bills and to make transactions, through a single trustworthy online location. The service comes as Australia Post seeks to generate new digital revenue streams as its traditional postal business comes under pressure from the rise of electronic media such as emails.

On December 14, 2011, two floats, two Extraordinary General Meetings and six Annual General Meetings are scheduled in the sharemarket list of events. Meanwhile, no ex-dividends are scheduled on the same day.

Float

Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) has announced the creation of two new divisions for the company as they plan for a management overhaul. The company has established the Australian Financial Services (AFS) division that encompasses units including Westpac Retail and Business banking, St. George Banking and BT Financial Group. The Group Services division, on the other hand, encompasses technology, banking operations, property services and legal.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) is preparing for job cuts in an effort to cut costs as bad debts and cautious retail customers plague the big bank.

Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) and Westpac (ASX:WBC) yesterday slashed their rates for fixed home loans after predicting that the Reserve Bank's next rate will go down.

Inflation aside, Westpac (ASX:WBC) still expects interest rates to drop next adjustment.

Yesterday's inflation numbers caused economists to predict a rate hike before the end of 2011. The consumer price index rose 0.9 percent, far above the Reserve Bank's target quarterly rate. The dollar rose US1.5 cents to a record US$1.108 last night.

Banking giants ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) and Westpac (ASX:WBC) are getting ready to shift jobs to Asia in a cost-cutting effort. Up to 250 jobs may be affected in the move to boost profit growth. ANZ plans to move around 100 jobs while Westpac could send 150 positions abroad.

Westpac's (ASX:WBC) future profits can be threatened as its institutional banking business copes with cut-throat competition from major banks and a nearly stagnant demand for credit. Institutional bank profits are expected to drop at least 4 percent this year and 3 percent in 2012, according to a report from Morgan Stanley.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) has received regulatory approval to open a branch in Beijing. The branch opens on June 29 and is located in the World Finance Centre in Beijing's central business district.

Australia's second-largest lender by value also plans to open two more China branches in the medium term. The two branches are in addition to the Shanghai branch which opened in 2008, the first Westpac branch in China.