A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and used to exist in Ireland and several Commonwealth countries. They are similar to credit unions in organisation, though few enforce a common bond. However, rather than promoting thrift and offering unsecured and business loans, the purpose of a building society is to provide home mortgages to members. Borrowers and depositors are society members, setting policy and appointing directors on a one-member, one-vote basis. Building societies often provide other retail banking services, such as current accounts, credit cards and personal loans. The term "building society" first arose in the 19th century in Great Britain from cooperative savings groups.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is an Australian financial institution, operating primarily in retail banking. The company was formed by the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007.
Bankwest, previously known as The Bank of Western Australia, is an Australian full-service bank based in Perth, Western Australia. It was sold in October 2008 to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for A$2.1 billion and operates as a division of its parent company.
Banking in Australia is dominated by four major banks: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and National Australia Bank. There are several smaller banks with a presence throughout the country, and a large number of other financial institutions, such as credit unions, building societies and mutual banks, which provide limited banking-type services and are described as authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). Many large foreign banks have a presence, but few have a retail banking presence. The central bank is the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Australian government’s Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) guarantees deposits up to $250,000 per account-holder per ADI in the event of the ADI failing.
WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie Connell, Dallas Dempster, John Roberts, and Warren Anderson. These dealings resulted in a loss of public money, estimated at a minimum of $600 million and the insolvency of several large corporations.
Great Southern Bank is a customer-owned bank based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. As of 2013, it is the largest customer-owned financial institution in Australia. It offers banking and insurance services to 420,000 Australians.
Teachers Mutual Bank Limited is one of the largest mutual banks in Australia, with more than 200,000 members and assets of over $8 billion.
Norwich & Peterborough Building Society (N&P) is a trading name of Yorkshire Building Society based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Formed by the merger of the Norwich and Peterborough building societies in 1986, at the time of merger with YBS, it was the ninth largest building society in the United Kingdom, with assets in excess of £4.9 billion.
Heritage Bank Limited is Australia's second largest mutual bank. Its head office is located in Toowoomba, Queensland.
IMB is the longest standing building society in New South Wales and the third largest building society in Australia in terms of assets under management. IMB was established in 1880 as Illawarra Mutual Building Society and is headquartered in Wollongong, New South Wales.
Bank Australia is an Australian customer-owned bank based in Kew, Victoria. The organisation was formed in 1957 as the CSIRO Co-operative Credit Society which over time merged with 72 other credit unions and co-operative banks, eventually becoming Bankmecu in 2001, then Bank Australia in 2015.
Beyond Bank is an Australian customer-owned bank operating in South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales. It provides financial services to its members including savings and business accounts, term deposits, loans, insurance and financial planning, and has total assets under management of more than $5 billion. It is a certified B Corp.
Cuscal Limited is an Australian company that predominantly provides transactional banking, liquidity and capital management services and products to institutional customers including credit unions, mutual banks and superannuation funds. Cuscal is regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) as an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI), and by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). It is a member of EFTPOS Payments Australia and the Australian Payments Clearing Association. Cuscal has an A+ credit rating.
Dallas Reginald Dempster was an Australian businessman notable for the original development of Perth's Burswood Resort and Casino and the proposed Kwinana Petrochemical Plant, both of which were among the Western Australian government transactions examined by the 1990–92 WA Inc Royal Commission. In November 2013 The West Australian newspaper named Dempster as one of Western Australia's 100 most influential business leaders (1829–2013).
Police Bank Ltd. is an Australian, member-owned mutual bank. Founded as NSW Police Credit Union (PCU) on 24 October 1964 by a group of officers from the Clarence Street Police Station in Sydney, its members passed a resolution to enable "Police Credit Union" to become "Police Bank Ltd." on 3 December 2012.
Greater Bank is an Australian customer-owned bank and mutual financial institution with headquarters in Hamilton, New South Wales. The bank was previously known as the Greater Building Society, or simply "The Greater”, and provides services to customers in New South Wales and southeast Queensland through branches, mobile lenders, its own ATM network, access to the Westpac ATM network, Internet and mobile banking, and a Newcastle-based customer service call centre.
Regional Australia Bank is the trading name of Regional Australia Bank Ltd, a member owned bank with roots in regional NSW and head office located in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
