Our Heritage

Our story started in 1895, not as Bankwest, but as the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia, established by the Government of Western Australia (WA) to help develop the State's farming industry.

By 1945, the organisation became a trading bank and changed its name to the Rural & Industries Bank of Western Australia. Over the next 50 years, the business grew to become a market leader in WA.

Then, in 1994, the bank changed its name once again to Bank of Western Australia Ltd, and adopted the trading name Bankwest, to clearly identify it with the State as a whole.

The following year, Bankwest was acquired by Bank of Scotland. As part of the sale agreement, Bank of Scotland offered 49 per cent of the shares in BankWest to the public – the shares listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 1 February 1996.

In 2003, the majority shareholder of Bankwest, HBOS plc, acquired the remaining shares in the company – HBOS plc was formed in 2001 as a result of the merger of Bank of Scotland (a major UK clearing bank) and Halifax Group plc (a large UK financial institution).

On 19th December 2008 the Commonwealth Bank acquired Bankwest. We are now part of the Commonwealth Bank Group which is one of Australia’s leading providers of integrated financial services including retail banking, premium banking, business banking, institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance and investment and share broking.