Australia's Westpac bank opens Dili branch

Asian Economic News, Jan 24, 2000

DILI, East Timor, Jan. 17 Kyodo

Australia's Westpac Banking Corp. has become the second international bank to open a branch in Dili since East Timor's independence vote in August, a spokesman for the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor said Monday.

Westpac, one of Australia's four largest banks, opened its office in central Dili on Thursday. The branch will be open to the public two days a week, offering a range of financial services that will include currency exchange, the spokesman said.

A Portuguese bank opened late last year in East Timor, which was devastated by pro-Indonesia militias in September following the vote for independence from Indonesia.