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Westpac invests in Far North Queensland with newly refurbished branch in Cairns. 10 July 2026 Nearly 150 years after first opening its doors to the Cairns community, Westpac has strengthened its services to local customers, investing more than $2.2 million in its newly refurbished Cairns Central branch. The upgrade forms part of Westpac's wider $85 million annual investment in its branch network across Australia, including $10 million to upgrade six regional Queensland branches and business banking centres. Customers can enjoy a modern, welcoming space to enjoy in branch support, enhanced digital capability and access to two new ATMs, a coin deposit machine and a cash exchange machine. Debbie English, Westpac Regional General Manager North Queensland said: "Westpac Banking Corporation is thrilled to reopen its Cairns Central branch to its customers. "Westpac has a proud history in Cairns and Far North Queensland, and this investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to our customers for the future." The refurbishment follows Westpac's announcement to launch its Community Banking Service in six regional Queensland towns - Malanda, Ravenshoe, Clifton, Pittsworth, Clermont and Laidley. The Community Banking Service provides regular, in-person banking support in regional towns with Westpac bankers visiting fortnightly, giving customers direct, face-to-face access to banking services and support to complement digital banking options. This Service is in addition to Westpac extending its moratorium on regional branch closures through to 2030. Led by local Bank Manager Anna Wright, the newly upgraded Westpac branch is located on the corner of McLeod St and Spence, in the Cairns Shopping Centre. Media contact:

Westpac Banking Corp. is intensifying efforts to monitor artificial intelligence costs by tracking AI token usage across the firm and routing simpler tasks to cheaper models. The Australian lender has over 15,000 employees using generative AI, according to its latest annual report. Chief AI officer Dan Jermyn, who joined from Commonwealth Bank this year, said the bank wants staff to make "sensible choices" about AI models to achieve the best return. The focus comes as businesses that adopted AI for productivity gains now scrutinise usage to ensure value. Westpac's technology spending rose 13% to A$3.1 billion in its most recent financial year. The bank is investing in modernising systems whilst balancing employee empowerment with cost management.

No rate cuts until 2027 as a fourth rise looms, say economists - 6 July 2026. Australian Financial Review Economists have all but ruled out an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia before well into next year, while the chance of another rate increase remains a line-ball call as the central bank waits to see what happens with inflation. A very slim majority of the 32 economists polled for The Australian Financial Review's latest quarterly survey said the cash rate had peaked at 4.35 per cent. That's after three back-to-back rate rises at the start of the year before the RBA held fire at its June board meeting. "We expect an extended pause," said Paul Bloxham, HSBC's chief economist for Australia and New Zealand. All but one economist tipped the RBA to hold off easing borrowing costs until next year. And 19 - including Bloxham - said it would not happen until the second half of 2027 as the RBA waited for evidence that the rapid-fire rate increases had taken enough heat out of the economy. Bloxham estimated that it would take at least until the middle of next year for the central bank to be "sufficiently convinced that inflation is heading back to target". The RBA has several reasons to hold off from cutting rates for as long as it can, not least because an unexpected pickup in inflation at the end of last year forced the bank into a U-turn as it pivoted from rate cuts to rate increases in just six months. The lingering threat of the Iran war also looms large after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz triggered the biggest energy shock in history and sent oil prices soaring above $US100 a barrel. The continuing inflation threat from the conflict will not just delay the RBA from lowering the cash rate, but it has also kept a fourth rate rise on the cards, even for those economists who have officially forecast the bank to remain on hold, such as Australian Retirement Trust's deputy chief economist, Alexis Gray. "The decision is on a knife-edge, given uncertainty about the situation in the Middle East," she said, before adding that the RBA's "confidence level that it had done enough to slay the inflation dragon" was also critical. Several economists in the survey said that although the latest peace deal between the US and Iran provided a reprieve on inflation, it failed to resolve key disputes between the two adversaries, including over Tehran's nuclear program. This meant tensions could reignite at any point, which would trigger a fresh surge in energy prices - and with it, the possibility of more rate rises. "The markets are bravely embracing the [peace deal] with stocks back at or near record levels, but the economic reality is that until shipping volumes through the Strait of Hormuz normalise, then stagflation risks will linger," said Bendigo Bank's chief economist David Robertson. He added that the RBA's chances of delivering one more rate increase before the end of the year were "more likely than not". Meanwhile, bond market pricing suggests a fourth rate rise to 4.6 per cent will be a close call. While headline inflation slowed to 4 per cent in May, the bank's preferred trimmed-mean metric - which strips out volatile price increases - climbed to 3.6 per cent. Traders are pricing in a 56 per cent chance of a rate rise by December, and the odds fade to 19 per cent by August next year. Minutes from the RBA's June meeting last week showed the nine-member board had left the door open to future tightening. But the one drag on the economy that the central bank had not counted on was the government's capital gains tax changes announced in the budget. The minutes noted that "conditions in the housing market had eased by more than expected" from the CGT reforms and earlier rate increases, which had heaped pressure on house prices and depressed demand for home loans. Under the new tax rules, the 50 per cent discount on an individual's CGT bill when they sell an asset will be replaced with a discount calculated in line with inflation, which will increase the tax on home sales. "The RBA will be on hold this year, with negative economic impact from the federal budget doing some of the RBA's work in slowing the economy," said Betashares chief economist David Bassanese. He said inflation was already near its peak. Attention will now turn to Australia's quarterly inflation report, due at the end of this month, to gauge how much longer the RBA is likely to keep monetary policy restrictive. National Australia Bank chief economist Sally Auld forecast the RBA to remain on hold for the rest of the year, but warned that future economic data releases could put rate rises back on the table. "If there is evidence that core inflation is annualising about 4 per cent in the second half of the year and the unemployment rate has returned to the 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent range, then further rate hikes may be required," she said. Of Australia's big four banks, only Westpac is currently tipping one more rate rise as part of this current tightening cycle. Chief economist Luci Ellis - who was a long-serving assistant governor at the RBA before joining Westpac - forecast the cash rate to climb to 4.85 per cent by the end of the year and does not expect cuts until February 2028. But while economists are divided on the path of interest rates in Australia, they are less convinced about the US Federal Reserve. Just over a third expect higher rates in the world's largest economy within the next year, despite new chairman Kevin Warsh vowing to rein in inflation. Warsh's hawkish rhetoric - a marked shift from the Fed under Jerome Powell - sent the Australian dollar tumbling below US69¢ as traders raised their bets on US rate increases, which pushed up demand for the greenback. Just as economists called Warsh's bluff, they have also gone bullish on the Australian dollar. Forecasters, on average, tipped the local currency to roar back to US72¢ by the end of the year before hitting US73¢ in June next year. With Cecile Lefort Article appeared in The Australian Financial Review on 6 July 2026. Article written by Grace Lagan.