Product simplification is the Holy Grail for bankers. A few weeks ago, NAB boss Cameron Clyne said his bank was going to reduce the number of products it sells. Now, Westpac's Brian Hartzer is having a crack.Westpac's Australian Financial Services chief executive, Hartzer, said he was looking for a "dramatic simplification in the product set", with a focus on the products that actually produce a profit for the bank.The executive given the task of leading the search for the grail is Rachel Slade, the general manager of business improvement and program delivery.While Slade did not say what her target was, she said the bank had 350 products in its system and 220 of them were on sale. But just 22 products account of 90 per cent of new openings. Slade said: "We have 24 credit cards. We would like to get that down to three - a low rate card, a low fee card and a rewards card."Slade said there were a number of benefits to be had from product simplification. It would ease the bank's regulatory burden. It would make the training of front-line staff easier and improve service levels.If employees misunderstand what products are on offer, customers will be confused and the bank will miss out on sales."And if we get it right we will get more productivity in the process side of things," she said.Slade has 100 people working in her team. They have identified 80 projects and 28 of them are underway.Products will have standardised fee structures. The bank is even moving to a single supplier of plastic cards.The simplification project is about more than reducing the number of products. The bank is centralising customer contact centres.The bank is also looking at its contact centre telephony and other infrastructure.