FX house of the year Australia: Westpac

Amid elevated volatility, Westpac enabled clients to navigate execution and hedging challenges through expanded digital access and risk management innovation

For Australian corporate and institutional investors, FX markets have become harder to manage. Over the past 12 months, AUD markets have been shaped by geopolitical shocks, tariff policy shifts, commodity price swings and changing rate expectations, creating a more demanding environment for firms managing offshore revenues, investments, supply chains and funding needs.

These firms need not only access to sharp pricing, but confidence that sizeable hedging and investment flows can be executed with discipline, that market impact can be managed and that advice is grounded in a clear understanding of their underlying business drivers.

Westpac, winner of the 2026 FX house of the year Australia award, has been solving these practical client challenges by combining deep local market expertise, long-standing client relationships, balance sheet commitment and continued investment in electronic execution.

“One of our biggest successes over the past 12 months has been our ability to help FX clients execute large risk transfers with little to no market impact,” says Emma Norman, managing director, head of eFICC and digital markets. “We achieved this by building out our internalisation capabilities.”

The bank now matches more than 80% of risk transfer flow internally across its client franchise or with Westpac Financial Markets desks managing other asset classes. This internalisation capability gives Westpac greater flexibility in how risk is managed, helping to reduce unnecessary signalling to the broader market and supporting more considered execution outcomes for clients.

“This approach requires us to hold risk for longer periods, but it has enabled us to deliver materially better outcomes for clients that prioritise market impact over headline spreads,” Norman says.

In parallel, Westpac has deepened engagement with banks, venues, electronic communication networks and internal desks, assessing partners not only on spread costs, but also on the market impact of their execution. Partners aligned to its approach are rewarded with greater flow, helping improve consistency and quality across liquidity pools.

“The result is an FX offering positioned around execution certainty, risk management outcomes and the ability to bring relevant ideas to institutional clients based on a deep understanding of their needs, not simply headline price,” says Norman.

Westpac has also invested in digital capability to give clients greater control over their currency exposures. Its expanded Fixed FX functionality brings forward-rate access into online banking, allowing business and retail customers to lock in future exchange rates when sending money overseas, without additional fees or credit requirements.

“It allows customers to reduce exposure to adverse market movements and plan their budgets, pricing and cashflows with greater confidence,” says Norman. “In volatile conditions, this capability allows customers to stay focused on their core business, rather than being distracted by short-term currency movements.”

This was accompanied by the introduction of FX rate alerts, available through the Westpac mobile app, which allow clients to set target rates and act quickly when market levels are reached without needing to monitor FX markets continuously.

One of our biggest successes over the past 12 months has been our ability to help FX clients execute large risk transfers with little to no market impact

Emma Norman

For institutional clients, the bank is extending that digital focus through direct FX application programming interface integration, supporting electronic price-making and price-taking across new exchanges. These capabilities complement the expertise of Westpac’s local teams, who work closely with clients to translate market conditions into practical execution and hedging strategies.

“The outcome is a scalable, well-governed execution capability that expands client access to electronic liquidity today, with a clear pathway to extend across spot, forwards and swaps as client demand evolves,” Norman says.

The bank’s eForwards initiative further extends electronic pricing and execution into forwards and swaps, using dynamic skewing that adapts to market conditions and flow. This supports sharper and more consistent pricing across currencies and tenors, including larger and more complex transactions.

Alongside these electronic initiatives, Westpac has expanded its deal-contingent FX hedging framework for mergers and acquisitions and infrastructure exposures, while continuing to deepen its broader FX structuring capability.

“Together, these initiatives strengthen electronic distribution, execution governance and client outcomes in FX. They position us to scale and meet evolving client needs globally,” Norman says.

Westpac’s progress has also been recognised through independent client feedback. In the 2025 Coalition Greenwich Voice of the client – Australia FX (financial institutions) study, Westpac ranked number one overall for market share and number one for relationship strength.

“These rankings reinforce Westpac’s position as a trusted execution and risk management partner in institutional FX,” Norman says.

Westpac was named FX house of the year Australia at the FX Markets Asia Awards 2026.

Sponsored content