Westpac is approaching the completion of sales of non-core businesses bundled into its “specialist businesses” portfolio a few years ago, with two sales completed last month and only four businesses left in the portfolio. In April, it completed the sale of Advance Asset Management to Mercer Australia and the transfer of BT personal and corporate superannuation funds to Mercer Super Trust. The sales resulted in an after-tax gain of around A$225 million and add around 8 basis points to its common equity tier 1 capital ratio at the end of March. Advance had $43.7 billion of funds under management at the time the deal was announced and BT had superannuation funds under administration of $37.8 billion. BT employees who support the funds were offered jobs at Mercer as part of the agreement. Westpac set up its specialist businesses unit in May 2020 to handle the divestment of businesses in areas like superannuation, wealth platforms, investments, auto finance, general insurance, life insurance and Westpac Pacific. At the time, chief executive Peter King said: “We need to simplify our businesses. When we look at where we can add value our performance has been driven by banking.  “The other businesses have not done as well and they have absorbed significant management time. We will focus where we have scale and competitive advantage.” Since then, the bank has completed nine divestments, including Westpac Life Insurance Services Ltd, vendor finance business Strategic Alliances, and its general insurance business.  It has sold its shares in fund manager Pendal Group (formerly a subsidiary BT Investment Management) and its 10.7 per cent stake in Zip. The specialist business portfolio now includes the wealth management platform business, with funds of $130.8 billion; margin lending, with balances of $1.2 billion; a $5.4 billion auto finance business; and Westpac Pacific. The auto finance business is in run-off, rather than being offered for sale. Balances fell by 24 per cent during the March half. Westpac hit a roadblock with the sale of its Pacific business in 2021, when Papua New Guinea’s Independent Consumer and Competition Commission blocked the sale to Kina Securities. Westpac Pacific has loan balances of $1.4 billion and deposits of $2.7 billion.