New Zealand central bank hits Westpac with charge over disclosure breach (updated)

Westpac Banking

06/11/2026 01:50

Adds Westpac NZ statement in paragraphs 8-9
Nov 6 (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said on Friday it hit the local unit of Westpac WBC.AX with a charge alleging it breached disclosure rules for the country's Depositor Compensation Scheme.
The Depositor Compensation Scheme (DCS) covers consumers up to NZ$100,000 ($56,120) in the event their bank fails
Banks must disclose information about the scheme as well as matters including their financial condition, governance and risks
In the charge filed with the District Court, RBNZ alleged Westpac New Zealand's portfolio investment entity product was missing from its webpage about the scheme for around 109 days between December 2025 and March 2026
Westpac has since added the product back to its webpage, and the alleged breach did not affect the operation of the scheme, RBNZ said
"Depositors need to know whether their money is protected by the DCS," said Kerry Beaumont, director of enforcement and resolution
"We take non-compliance with these core requirements seriously and will take enforcement action where appropriate."
Westpac said in a statement that it self-reported the website "error" to RBNZ earlier in the year and would continue to cooperate with the central bank
"This product was only directly available to two investment managers and there was no financial loss to customers. We have fixed the underlying issue to prevent the same error occurring again."
($1 = 1.7819 New Zealand dollars)

(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney and Lucy Craymer in Wellington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)
((christine.chen@thomsonreuters.com; +61 2 9171 7119;))