June quarter trading update scrapped

Westpac will not provide a quarterly trading update to the market covering its June 2012 quarter, Phil Coffey, the bank's chief financial officer, said yesterday.

Coffey told the investor briefing for the bank's half-year results: "I think it's clear from these half-year results that there are real inadequacies in quarterly reporting. 

"Short-term and more volatile elements are being more misleading than helpful and, as a result, we have no plans to conduct a third-quarter financial update. 

"We will, of course, continue to focus on keeping the market fully informed of our business."