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Cyber security for your business

Date: Tuesday 10 September 2024
Time: 10:00am - 10:45am

Nearly half of all New Zealanders experience a cybercrime incident every six-months*. For businesses, such incidents can severely damage reputation, productivity, and finances.

Cybercrime takes many forms, including SMS phishing, invoice scams and ransomware. It's crucial that any business operating in the digital world has a cyber resilience plan.

Join our upcoming Westpac Smarts webinar, hosted by Westpac’s Head of Business Merv Rowe, and featuring Westpac’s Cameron McGregor – Chief information Security Officer, along with Rex Cottingham from the NZ Police Cybercrime unit. In this webinar you will learn:

The current cyber threat landscape in New Zealand.
How to protect your business, employees and customers.
Resources available and where to get help.

Register now so we can get your business to greater, together.

*Source: CERT NZ

Westpac Smarts Webinar: 'Wholesale Trade - Pushing the digitial limits'

Date: Tuesday 15th November
Time: 10.00am – 10.45am

David Hope, Head of Industry, Manufacturing & Wholesale Trade will host an expert panel to discuss how the wholesale trade industry can adapt to compete and win in an increasingly digital world.

Westpac Economist Paul Clark will talk about the key findings in his latest Industry research paper “Wholesaling in New Zealand – pushing the digital limits” and he will share the 4 critical success factors of wholesaling in New Zealand. Joining the discussion to give us their industry perspective will also be, Scott Hawkins of Hawkins Watts, one of New Zealand most significant food ingredient wholesalers, and Richard Higham from Hi-Q, a family owned electronic and plastic component wholesaler.

We look forward to you joining us in what promises to be an insightful conversation.

Click below to register for the webinar.

Click below to register for a recording if you are unable to attend.

Click below to decline the webinar.

Introducing our speakers.

Merv Rowe, Head of Business, Westpac

Merv joined Westpac through the graduate intake in 1994 and apart from 4 years in London, has worked for Westpac since then. Merv recently returned to Institutional and Business Bank after leading the northern team in Private Bank for 8 years. Merv’s passion lies with leading customer facing teams who work side by side with Business owners every day.

The Business team that he currently leads is focussed on delivering ‘best in market’ full banking advice to SME businesses across New Zealand. The team strives to build enduring and long-lasting relationships in the local communities they serve, with Relationship and Business Managers located in seven Regional Business Centres from Northland to Invercargill.

Merv commented that in the current challenging economic environment the team have been focussed on proactively contacting it’s small business owners to understand how Westpac can assist in navigating through this period. He is proud of the recent SME Customer Satisfaction survey which places Westpac as a clear ‘Number 1’ against its peers in Relationship Manager satisfaction.

Cameron McGregor, Chief Information Security Officer, Westpac

Cam established the New Zealand branch of Reliance Cyber, successfully bringing his UK-based cybersecurity expertise to the vibrant Kiwi market. Following that, Cam was the head of security operations at Cyber Research (now part of CyberCX) where he compiled deep experience and knowledge safeguarding critical assets and responding to emerging threats. His tenure from 2019 onwards was marked by innovative strategies and a relentless commitment to excellence.

Cam joined Westpac in 2021 as the Service Owner for Cyber Build and Protect. His strategic vision and hands-on approach significantly enhanced the bank’s cybersecurity posture. Recognising his outstanding contributions, he was promoted to the position of Service Group Owner for Cyber in 2022. His ability to align security initiatives with business goals has been instrumental in improving our cyber position.

Cam’s passion for cybersecurity, coupled with his collaborative spirit, makes him an invaluable asset to our team. We look forward to his continued leadership and contributions as we navigate the ever-evolving threat landscape.

Rex Cottingham, Technical Manager, Cybercrime Unit, New Zealand Police

Rex Cottingham is an Authorised Officer in the New Zealand Police and is a Technical Manager in the Cybercrime Unit, leading and supervising staff based in Auckland and Wellington.

He began his career in law enforcement in 2009 when the Cybercrime Unit was created. In that time, he has investigated various criminal offences that involves technology including child sexual abuse, hacking, drug marketplaces, and darknet servers hosted in NZ. He is a qualified specialist expert witness for court testifying on various cases.

He has received training from vendors, industry and other law enforcement such as FBI Cyber Division. He has also provided training domestically for NZ Police and other government agencies and internationally such as Asia / Pacific law enforcement officers via Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation on investigating cybercrime.

Previous work experience includes the Telecommunications and Banking industries such as Westpac NZ where he responded to cyber attacks and financial crime.

Introducing our speakers.

Being Cyber Smart.

Wholesale Trade: Pushing the digital limits.

Dan Symons has over 25 years in financial services and 12 years with Westpac. He is passionate about helping businesses prepare for and navigate future payment and technology pathways that will help them be efficient, reduce risk and deliver value to support their success.

Paul Clark joined Westpac’s Economics team as an industry economist in July 2017 focusing on the structural analysis of industry and regional economic performance. Prior to joining Westpac, he was a principal advisor at the New Zealand Transport Agency focusing on environmental analysis and non-financial performance measurement and monitoring. Before emigrating to New Zealand in 2006, Paul had worked extensively in South Africa as an industry economist and as a country risk analyst specialising in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ray Chow currently leads the Westpac Cyber Security Advisory team and has been in the Security Industry for over 15 years. He has experience in incident response, security operations and stakeholder managements. In recent years, his focus has shifted towards the challenges in securing human beings. Ray is an active New Zealand Internet Task Force member since inception, Board Member, and currently mentors the Internet Task Force.

Scott Hawkins is the Managing Director of Hawkins Watts, a food technology business, and an importer and distributor of functional food ingredients that are supplied to food manufacturers throughout New Zealand. Hawkins Watts imports ingredients from all over the world and has been operating since 1992. The supply chain issues of the past few years have by far been the most challenging since the business began and are far from being over.

Sam Leggett is a Senior Analyst with the Threat and Incident Response team at CERT NZ. Sam has done studies focusing on Computer Science and Cyber Security with additional training in Incident Management and Response. With 5 years experience within fraud prevention, Sam is passionate about helping as many people as possible stay safe online here in NZ and around the world.

Richard Higham is the Managing Director of Hi-Q Electronics Ltd, a Company started by his father in 1981. Hi-Q Electronics Ltd, trading as Hi-Q Components, imports and distributes plastic and electronic components to New Zealand manufacturers and many other areas including automotive, marine, hydraulic, engineering, aviation. Hi-Q has over the last 40 years grown to be a major component supplier to the New Zealand manufacturer.

Previous Webinars.

Our Westpac team have facilitated great conversations over the past couple of years. If you're interested in viewing some of these recordings, click below to view our archives.