About Westpac Junior Accounts for kids and families

Westpac understands that it is in a unique position as a financial institution with over a million customers to play a part in responsibly improving the financial literacy of New Zealanders.

Westpac recognises the importance of starting this process as early as possible. A good way to do this is to help parents and families give their children an understanding of money and how to manage it, and the benefits of saving.

We know that attitudes and habits concerning money are learned at an early age. To reflect this fact, we have developed two Westpac Junior Accounts. They are easy to understand and cater to two important needs: the need for children to learn about money, and the need for their parents to save for a ‘rainy day’ on their child’s behalf.

With Westpac Junior Accounts, our aim is to teach children money skills via interactive games and tools that they can use either by themselves or with their parents.

Westpac’s Junior Account for kids is the perfect way to introduce young children to banking. This simple first savings account is designed for children who are beginning to receive small amounts of money, such as pocket money or birthday presents.They might only make occasional, small deposits – but they’ll begin to learn how their money can grow through the interest they receive each month.

We also know that children can place additional pressure on family income, so we came up with Westpac’s Junior Account for families, a dedicated account that is in the child's name, but is managed by the parent.

A Westpac Junior Account for families can be used by parents to start saving for such incidental costs as school uniforms, new glasses and school trips. This account is free of bank fees, to help ensure that it costs parents or caregivers as little as possible to start putting something away for their child's future.