Peter King

Peter King leads Westpac Banking Corporation as CEO, overseeing Australia's oldest bank (founded in 1817 — predating Australian federation) and third-largest by assets among the "Big Four" Australian banks (Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ). Westpac serves over 13 million customers across consumer banking, business banking, and institutional banking, with a significant New Zealand operation through Westpac NZ. Westpac faced a major crisis in 2020 when AUSTRAC (Australia's financial intelligence agency) imposed a record A$1.3 billion penalty for anti-money laundering compliance failures involving 23 million breaches. King has been executing a simplification strategy: divesting non-core businesses, investing in technology and compliance, and focusing on core banking operations. The Australian banking system is characterized by an oligopoly of four major banks, high household mortgage debt, and a concentrated housing market. Key stock drivers include Australian mortgage growth and housing market conditions, net interest margins, credit quality and provisioning, Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate decisions, cost management and technology investment, deposit competition, compliance and risk management execution, New Zealand banking performance, and the competitive dynamics among the Big Four.