Westpac to Refund Some Package Customers

MELBOURNE, Australia--Westpac Banking Corp. has vowed to refund about 200,000 customers holding "packaged" accounts who didn't automatically receive the benefits they were entitled to.

Refunds are expected to total nearly 65 million Australian dollars (US$51 million) and the bank said it would book an after-tax cost of A$45 million in its results for the year through September.

Westpac said it identified an issue affecting customers who held certain packages with the parent bank, its St. George, BankSA or Bank of Australia units from 2010, where they didn't receive discounts on products such as home and contents insurance and term deposits. Under the terms of the packages, such discounts are meant to be received automatically by customers.

The bank said it apologized and would proactively contact affected customers.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2017 23:30 ET (03:30 GMT)