St George sales trail Westpac

Westpac's multi-brand strategy is struggling to differentiate its operations from those of the core retail bank brand, if the few financial metrics shared with investors are any guide.

Revenue per staffer in the Westpac retail bank was A$379,000 over the first half of the bank's financial year. At St George (and BankSA, Bank of Melbourne and Rams) this number was $378,000.

St George is no great source of deposits, either, or maybe it is a more effective lender, with a deposit to loan ratio of 54.4 per cent (and in decline) compared with a ratio of 60.5 per cent and rising for the core retail bank.

Westpac, as usual, rationed data on this side of its business.

Bank of Melbourne "has consistently grown ahead of system across both mortgages and deposits since its launch in 2011," Westpac said yesterday.

Bank of Melbourne now operates around 100 branches.