Green, in first gear at Westpac

Written by Cherelle Jackson
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Based on appearances only, some may easily regard Jason Green as a junior employee at Westpac Bank Ltd, he looks fresh out of university and in a country where the men tower are famed for their stature the Australian born banker, well, looks young. The only thing true about that first impression, is that indeed Jason Green is young, but he never went to University and although young, is far from junior at Westpac, he is in fact the recently appointed General Manager of Westpac Bank in Samoa. The appointment of Green as the new GM of Westpac did not come as a surprise to the Westpac community. University degree or not, Green had more than enough experience for the job. Having worked with Westpac Australia for more than 20 years, Green has had numerous relationship and management roles, with an extensive background in commercial banking. Originally from regional New South Wales, Australia Green relocated to Sydney in 1995. In 2007 he moved to Samoa with his wife Carolyn to take up the position of Head of Business and Consuming Banking giving him insight into banking in Samoa. Westpac Pacific Banking General Manager, Jane Kittel, said as Westpac Samoa’s Head of Business and Consuming Banking, Green demonstrated the necessary leadership attributes to assume the role of General Manager. “As well as gaining invaluable experience of the local market since arriving last year, he brings a wealth of understanding and knowledge of the banking and financial services industry to the market,” Kittel said. Green now joins three other men leading the banking industry on the island, the industry consisting of ANZ, Samoa Commercial Bank, National Bank of Samoa and of course Westpac. But the growth of banking and the tightened competition between banks has given the young GM a challenge on the offset. As the world economy faces struggles of its own, the Pacific follows suit with Samoa having its own share of economic challenges. But Green says it is all in the approach to customer service and providing a good product. “We're in a service industry, certainly product quality and price counts. However if we don't get our service and relationships right, we won't have a business. So this is where Westpac focuses its efforts – providing great service and products and fostering good relationships,” he said. Selected from Westpac in Samoa for the job, Green felt that the experience can only contribute to his role. “From a customer perspective it provides great continuity and minimal business disruption. However, more importantly the local knowledge I gained will prove invaluable. The network of people, getting to know the local economy and issues and of course, getting to know our customers – it’s all critical for me to be able to contribute and participate in the community,” Green said. Asked what Westpac has to offer that other banks are not already offering he said: “Samoa is fortunate in that it has a competitive banking environment that is well managed by the Central Bank. This provides great choice for customers. Certainly we have products that differentiate us from our competitors, such as our local currency American Express credit card.” Greed says that the key differentiators between Westpac and the other banks is their employees. “We’ve been here since 1977 and during this time, we’ve built great customer relationships and links with the community. We have many loyal customers and I’d like to think this was based on the service we provide and the products we offer. We also pride ourselves on our community input such as our involvement with the Samoa Rugby Union, our school scholarship program and other cultural events,” he said. Westpac accounted for 30.5 percent of total credit in the latest Monetary Survey by the Central Bank of Samoa. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 July 2008 )

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