St George Bank has decided to increase its visual presence in Western Australia by placing new branches in "key strategic locations for retail and commercial business", according to Martin Barrett, the bank's general manager, west Australia.St George currently has three branches in WA out of a national network of close to 400, with five additional branches to be opened in the west in the short term. One of these will be in Fremantle."We have a view at this point in time, to have 15 branches by 2010, with locations in corridors of growth aimed at servicing both commercial and retail customers", Barrett said."With recruitment, we have some staff who want to move internally and relocate to Western Australia, as they have a partner that can find work in the booming mining sector."Barrett said the bank had a consistent national credit perspective, with Western Australia on equal footing even though some industry pundits consider the states booming economy a bubble."On the opportunity side, even if the local market slows down, we can still gain market share versus the major banks".