Westpac expects around 100,000 "new" customers that sign up with its revived Bank of Melbourne brand in Victoria will come from those who already bank with the group under the main Westpac brand,
The Age reports.
The newspaper was reporting on aspects of the briefing documents prepared for the Westpac board in July 2010 on the then proposal to revive the brand. BOM was acquired by the bank in 1997 and abandoned in 2004.
The bank expects most new customers for Bank of Melbourne to defect from Commonwealth Bank, the market leader in both Victoria and most regions of Australia. The Age does not report the aggregate target for customer numbers of Bank of Melbourne or a time-frame.
Having taken the view that the St George brand (acquired by Westpac in 2008) is a failure in Victoria, Westpac is counting on a more parochial brand to drive organic growth.
The aggregate market share for "regional" bank brands in Victoria is around 13 per cent, according to Westpac estimates released in March this year. The bank puts the regional market share in other states in excess of 20 per cent, and as high as 25 per cent in some cases.
The existing St George market share in Victoria is a little less than four per cent.
Westpac is optimistic about gaining from "free PR" from Melbourne media, according to the board documents, though they also refer to Melbourne as "a provincial global community".
Westpac is advancing the relaunch of the Bank of Melbourne brand by several weeks and the brand will be actively back in use by the end of this month.