Perth-based financial services provider St Andrew’s Australia has agreed to merge the management and insurance operations of BankWest into its own to provide more “one stop solutions” to customers.

St Andrew’s – a subsidiary of the HBOS Group which was formed as a result of a merger between Halifax Building Society and The Bank of Scotland ­– says the new operation will form a new insurance and investment division for both companies, branded under the BankWest name.

MD John Van Der Wielen says the new business intends to form an “exclusive arrangement possibly a joint venture with a major Australian fund manager” sometime in the near future.

He says he and the board are currently in negotiations with a shortlist of leading fund managers.