A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization, which offers banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. They exist in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and formerly in Ireland and several Commonwealth countries, including South Africa as mutual banks. They are similar to credit unions, but 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 is an Australian bank based in Perth, Western Australia. It was founded as the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia in 1895 by the Government of Western Australia being renamed the Rural and Industries Bank in 1944, and Bankwest in 1994 before being privatised. After a period of being a listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange, it was taken over by the Bank of Scotland, and since 2008 has been a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank.
The Bank of Queensland (BOQ), formerly known as the Brisbane Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society (BPBBIS) between 1874–1970, is an Australian retail bank with headquarters in Brisbane, Queensland. The bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in Queensland, having begun as a building society. It now has 111 owner-managed branches throughout Australia, including thirty-six corporate branches and third-party intermediaries. They also have over 2,300 ATMs. The bank also owns Virgin Money Australia and ME Bank.
St.George Bank is an Australian bank with its headquarters in Sydney. Since a 2008 merger, the bank has been part of Westpac, having previously been an independent legal entity. In 2010, St.George was deregistered as a company and ceased to be a standalone authorised deposit-taking institution.
Banking in Australia is dominated by four major banks: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group and National Australia Bank. There are several smaller banks with a presence throughout the country which includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Suncorp Bank, 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 guarantees deposits up to $250,000 per account-holder per ADI in the event of the ADI failing.
Union Bank of India, commonly referred to as Union Bank, is an Indian public sector bank headquartered in Mumbai. It has 153+ million customers and a total business of Rs.21,36,405 crores as of June 30 2024. After the merging with Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank, which came into effect on 1 April 2020, the merged entity became one of the largest PSU banks in terms of branch network with around 8700+ branches. Four of these are located overseas in Hong Kong, Dubai, Antwerp, and Sydney. UBI also has representative offices at Shanghai, Beijing and Abu Dhabi. UBI operates in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, Union Bank of India (UK). The bank has a network of 8500+ domestic branches, 10000+ ATMs, and 18000+ Business Correspondent Points serving over 153 million customers with 76,700+ employees.
MyState Limited is an Australian financial group, headquartered in Hobart, Tasmania. It formed in 2009 following the merger of the Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees and MyState Financial. In 2011 it further purchased the Queensland-based Rock Building Society for $68.3 million AUD. In October 2014, its largest section, MyState Financial received authorisation from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to rename itself to MyState Bank.
Great Southern Bank, formerly Credit Union Australia, is one of Australia's largest customer-owned banks with corporate offices in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. It provided banking services to more than 400,000 Australians in 2023.
Heritage and People’s Choice Limited, trading as People's Choice, is an Australian credit union based in Adelaide, South Australia. It is one of Australia's largest credit unions, with branches located in South Australia, Northern Territory and Victoria, offering loans, credit cards, transaction and savings accounts, mortgages and insurance.
Teachers Mutual Bank Limited is a 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 and People’s Choice Limited, trading as Heritage Bank, is one of Australia's largest mutual banks. Its head office is in Toowoomba, Queensland.
IMB Bank is an Australian mutual bank established in 1880. In 2020, IMB Bank was voted by Forbes as one of the World's Best Banks, and, in 2022, was found by financial services research company Canstar to have Australia's Most Satisfied Customers for both the Bank and Mutual Bank categories.
Bank Australia is an Australian customer-owned bank based in Collingwood, Victoria. The organisation can trace its origins back to 1957, when the CSIRO Co-operative Credit Society was formed. Over succeeding years, mergers among 72 other credit unions and co-operative banks eventually led to the creation of the Members & Education Credit Union (mecu) in 2003, which became Bankmecu in 2011, and Bank Australia in 2015.
Beyond Bank is an Australian customer-owned bank operating in South Australia, Victoria, 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.
Police Bank Limited 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 now a brand of Newcastle Greater Mutual Group, an organisation formed through the merger between Greater Bank and Newcastle Permanent Building Society.
Community First Bank is an Australian member or customer-owned community-focused bank established in Sydney in 1959 as Sydney Water Board Officers Credit Union with branches in Sydney and the central coast region
Regional Australia Bank is a member owned bank with roots in regional New South Wales and head office located in Armidale, Australia.
