Westpac Group could look at an expansion of its operations in Asia in the medium term.
"Into the medium term, we will certainly be thinking about the opportunities that we have in Asia," Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said yesterday at the presentation of the group's annual results.
But she emphasised that in the near future the group's strategy to grow in Australia and New Zealand remained.
"For the foreseeable future, for the next couple of years at least, we've got a lot to do right here, within Australia," Kelly said.
"Our primary focus of the next period of time is very much to drive our strategy and build on our platforms we have within Australia and New Zealand."
Although the group has a number of offices in the Asian region, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, these operations serve only existing Australian and New Zealand customers who are doing business in Asia.
Westpac yesterday reported an 11 per cent drop in net profit for the 12 months to September 2009 to $3.4 billion.
The fall in profits was partly the result of a rise in bad debt provisions, but Kelly said she expected that the problems with these loans had peaked.
Although the group issued a full-year dividend that was 18 per cent lower than last year's dividend, Westpac did raise it from 56 cents in the first half to 60 cents in the second half of 2009.
"It's a sign of improved confidence in the sector and confidence in the cycle," Kelly said.
