Australian Bank (ABL) was an Australian retail bank that operated between 1981 and 1989. It was established by Perth businessman Garrick Agnew (its first chairman) and Sydney-based Mark Johnson [1] (its first CEO). Johnson was also a co-founder of Macquarie Group.
At the time of its establishment in 1981, it was the first new trading bank in Australia since 1945. [2]
In the late 1970s, Agnew had expressed concerns that Australian banks weren't sufficiently competitive. During a discussion with fellow Western Australian John Stone (then Secretary to the Treasury), Stone suggested (possibly in jest) that, if Agnew were so concerned, he should establish a bank of his own. [3] [4]
The bank opened offices in Perth (190 St George's Terrace), Sydney (17 O’Connell Street) and Melbourne (400 Collins Street, moving to 395 Collins Street from mid 1985).
Whilst initially successful, the bank soon struggled [5] in the wake of the turmoil in the Australian banking environment during the mid to late 1980s, particularly with bad debts arising from overseas loan funding following the floating of the Australian Dollar in December 1983.
The bank downsized through a series of staff redundancies commencing in early 1986, and finally wound up in February 1989 following its purchase by State Bank of Victoria. [6] [7] [8] [9]
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reserves men's team in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Sydney Swans Academy, consisting of the club's best junior development signings, contests Division 2 of the men's and women's underage national championships and the Talent League.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by market capitalisation.
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Graham Neil Yallop is a former Australian international cricketer. Yallop played Test and One Day International cricket for the Australia national cricket team between 1976 and 1984, captaining the side briefly during the World Series Cricket era in the late 1970s. A technically correct left-handed batsman, Yallop played domestically for Victoria, invariably batting near the top of the order and led Victoria to two Sheffield Shield titles. He was the first player to wear a full helmet in a Test match.
John Dyson is a former international cricketer (batsman) who is now a cricket coach, most recently in charge of the West Indies.
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