SYDNEY, June 29, 2026, 00:01 AEST
- Westpac finished Friday at A$35.14. The bank also paid out its 77-cent fully franked interim dividend on Friday, which is 2.19% of the closing price.
- The dividend reinvestment plan priced at A$36.08, no discount. That’s 94 cents above Friday’s close. DRP take-up was 13.9% of ordinary shares on issue.
- Westpac’s in-house nowcast sees Q2 GDP growth around 0.2% and puts odds of a negative quarter at 27%. RBA minutes are due Tuesday.
Westpac Banking Corporation ASX:WBC kicked off the week showing a minor gap for income-focused holders. The bank paid out a 77-cent cash dividend on Friday. Its dividend reinvestment plan set shares at A$36.08—2.7% higher than Friday’s close at A$35.14. That DRP price came from the 15-day VWAP up to June 3 and didn’t include any discount.
Westpac’s dividend is the key news for the bank in the last 48 hours. A cash shareholder buying in at Friday’s close paid less than the DRP price, while DRP holders got shares at the scheme’s set price. Westpac said it would fill the DRP using on-market buys by third parties, not by issuing new stock.
WBC edged up 8 cents on Friday to close at A$35.14, trading 4.07 million shares. The stock ended 0.37% higher than its June 19 close. The S&P/ASX 200 wrapped Friday at 8,764.20, gaining 0.18% on the day but losing 0.73% for the week.
Growth is the tougher spot. Westpac-Now is pointing to just 0.2% GDP growth quarter-on-quarter for the June quarter, with a one-in-four chance GDP contracts. Year-on-year growth looks like slowing back to 1.7%, under the RBA’s 1.9% forecast. For a bank stock, that’s a tricky setup—too soft for loan growth and credit, but not soft enough for definite rate cuts.
Westpac Group’s Matthew Hassan said inflation is still set to be “uncomfortably high” for the RBA heading into August. Hassan, who heads Australian macro-forecasting at Westpac, said there’s still a risk the central bank could go for another 25-basis-point hike in August.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate steady at 4.35% on June 16. The bank’s next policy board meeting will be Aug. 10-11. Minutes from June’s meeting will be released at 11:30 a.m. AEST on Tuesday.
Westpac’s first-half numbers showed pressure on margins and higher impairments. Net interest margin dipped 6 basis points from the previous half to 1.89%. Impairment charges climbed to A$443 million, or 10 basis points of loans, up from 4 basis points. Net profit before notable items came in at A$3.48 billion, slipping 1% from the second half.
Westpac CEO Anthony Miller said in May that the bank had shown “solid operating momentum” even as it kept investing for the future. Miller also said Westpac had “a prudent approach” and lifted provisions as customers faced global uncertainty.
Capital remains the main buffer for payouts. Westpac’s Level 2 CET1 ratio came in at 12.42% as of March 31, beating its usual 11.25% target. The bank said that gave it A$2.7 billion of capital above target even after paying the first-half dividend. The 77-cent interim dividend was a 77.1% payout ratio.
Westpac Economics flagged a busy week for Australian data, including RBA minutes, private sector credit, the home value index, goods trade numbers and dwelling approvals. Those data points are key for WBC, more so now than the dividend date. As of March 31, Westpac reported A$890 billion in gross loans and A$745 billion in deposits.
