Is it worth banking on the Wales?

I  have banked with every major bank in Australia, but the one I have banked with longest is Westpac. As people over the age of 55 will recall, it was once called the Bank of New South Wales. It advertised itself as 'First Bank in Australia' and so on. It was Australia's biggest bank and also had Australia's biggest merchant bank, Partnership Pacific. Like its little brother Tricontinental, which sent the venerable State Bank of Victoria to the wall, Partnership Pacific almost wiped out Westpac.

Westpac relied on men like Bob White, who started as a clerk at 16, to rise through the ranks and lead the bank. Bob White was succeeded by Stuart Fowler. Due to a combination of bad judgment and bad luck, under Stuart Fowler, Westpac almost went belly up. Westpac recruited Robert Joss from Wells Fargo to rescue the bank, which he duly achieved. Joss is now regarded as one of the world's pre-eminent finance educators.

What I liked about Westpac was its 'can do' attitude. Arriving in Melbourne from Perth, I had a job but knew no-one. I wanted to buy a house. I had a substantial deposit. I went to one Westpac branch and asked for a loan. The manager said he was in a bad mood and told me to piss off. I went to another Westpac branch and the female accountant said 'We don't lend to West Australians, unless they're footballers.' I went to another Westpac branch in Collins Street, Melbourne's financial heartland, and the manager said 'Well, we're in the business of lending money, how much do you want?' And it was all done in a couple of days.  

My latest contact with Westpac was when I applied for a Mastercard  with a small limit. It was all fine until they wanted a payslip. I am a freelance writer. I do not have payslips. If I got a payslip, I think I'd swoon with delight and think I'd gone to heaven. I might add I have liquid funds far in excess of the limit I requested.

The next night the ANZ rang me up and offered me an increase in my limit on my existing Visa for an almost identical amount. No paperwork, all I had to do was say 'yes' within 24 hours. ANZ is far and away the best Australian bank in China. Due to its alliance with the Construction Bank, you can draw on your Australian ANZ account in almost any town in China. The Construction Bank is one of China's 'Big Four' banks.

Hasn't Westpac heard that these days a great many contractors and self employed people, the most dynamic section of the economy,  don't get 'payslips'? And that perhaps Melbourne people still remember how Westpac (a Sydney bank) took over the Bank of Melbourne (formerly the beloved RESI before it floated), killed it off -- and has now revived something called the Bank of Melbourne, having previously written off billions in goodwill?

It will take a lot to convince me before I bank on the Wales in more than a token fashion.