The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price is relishing a good year on the ASX.
It's currently 25.88% higher than it was at the start of 2021 with the company's shares closing at $24.71 apiece on Friday.
The performance of Westpac shares this year is significantly better than some of its peers on the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ). Year to date, the financials index has gained 16.49%.
The banking giant is the top performing big bank in 2021 so far. However, Westpac isn't the top dog of the ASX 200 financials sector.
ASX 200 financial shares in 2021
The ASX 200 financials sector is currently led by Virgin Money UK CDI (ASX: VUK), which has gained 48.94% in 2021.
AUB Group Ltd (ASX: AUB), Janus Henderson Group CDI (ASX: JHG), and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) aren't far off Virgin's tail, having gained 40.36%, 28.38%, and 26.83% respectively.
The sector's heaviest weight is AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP), which has fallen 30.13% year to date.
Let's take a look at what's been driving the Westpac share price to be one of the five top performing ASX 200 financial stocks of 2021 so far.
Westpac's year so far
The Westpac share price hasn't fared well in the past month or so.
Recently, Westpac decided not to demerge its New Zealand banking business, offloaded its life insurance products, copped an $87 million fine, and found potential fraud within its leasing portfolio.
However, prior to these events, it was tracking well.
As The Motley Fool reported last month, Westpac's 58 cent dividend and $3.44 billion cash profit, reported in its half year results, are likely why the market's been excited by Westpac.
Additionally, some brokers believe Westpac shares have further to go. On 9 July, Morgans analysts retained their $29.50 price target for Westpac shares.
Westpac share price snapshot
Westpac's shares have fallen 4.3% in the last month.
Luckily for its shareholders, they're still 39.45% higher than they were this time last year.
