He was in the city to open the Westpac business banking centre on the corner of Moray Pl and George St, the site of the former Westpac Moray Pl branch which has shifted a few metres north on George St.
Although the branches were side by side, Mr Frazis said with both branches operating in different markets, Westpac had ended up with a better banking service for customers.
"We are opening new community retail branches around the country. This one is a more traditional-sized branch that has been done up.
"The new model is a branch of half the size with six bankers - business banking, wealth banking and the normal teller and transaction banking."
Westpac had already opened five new community branches and was planning another 10 this year, he said.
Each of the branches was equipped with the latest technology and any savings made were reinvested.
That encouraged staff to find inefficiency without worrying about losing their jobs.
The new branches were part of a two-pronged strategy to continue the bank's growth.
The other prong was devolving more decision-making to local branches.
During a recession, many people cut back or did not increase their distribution, Mr Frazis said.
Westpac had added branches and had tripled staff training, mainly on credit skills.
The extra training had saved 180 jobs in back office positions.
Those people had been trained to become frontline business, agribusiness or transaction bankers.
The bank had also decentralised its business banking decision-making from one location in Auckland, to a second in Christchurch, with a credit banker to be appointed soon in Dunedin.
Mr Frazis credits those policies with consistent growth for Westpac, above the market average.
While the general lending market was down an annualised 7% in the year to date, Westpac's lending was up 6%.
Core bank lending was up an industry average 3% and Westpac was up 7%; deposits were up 6% and Westpac was up 9%.
He admitted the policy of "more banks in more places" was a return to the past and the bank had made mistakes in consolidating and closing branches.
Now the focus was on increasing branches, albeit smaller ones, and saving jobs by not looking offshore for services.
The bank had 205 branches in New Zealand but continued to look for growth areas.
One of the first community banks was opened in Queenstown.
Asked about the contribution Otago made to the general business of the bank, Mr Frazis said the region remained an important market.
Exporters, manufacturers and the rural economy were areas which helped drive the national economy.
There was a strong emphasis on education in Dunedin and a strong tourism industry throughout the region.
"All round, this is an important market for us."
