Fifth bank brand an option for Westpac
Westpac may still be working on a further internet-only bank brand, known internally as Red, the Australian Financial Review reports.Rob Chapman, chief executive of the St George division of Westpac, told the newspaper that Red remained part of the bank's multi-brand strategy but was on hold while staff worked on the introduction of Bank of Melbourne.In early 2010, Westpac selected a marketing agency, Sapient Nitro, to work on marketing concepts for the new brand.As for Bank of Melbourne, Westpac completed the re-branding of branches, business banking centres and ATMs in Victoria over the weekend, replacing the St George brand that the bank's management has concluded has failed to work in the state.Westpac is also opening several new branches today that sport Bank of Melbourne livery.There are a handful of special offers to coincide with the use of the new brand, including short-term fee waivers on some business accounts and the waiver of application fees on merchant accounts. There are also waivers of establishment fees on home loans.Home loan pricing is otherwise pretty conventional, with the standard "discounts" off the notional variable rate of 7.8 per cent.Talk of discounts of one per cent, puffed up last week, has turned out to be exaggerated.A discount of 0.8 percentage points, in line with the market, is the basic offer. The maximum discount will be 0.95 percentage points for the few looking for home loans in excess of $1 million.