Trust Bank of Tasmania

Last updated
Trust Bank of Tasmania Limited
Trust Bank
Industry Banking, financial services
PredecessorSavings Bank of Tasmania, Tasmania Bank
Founded1 May 1991
Defunct26 November 1999
FateMerged with Colonial Bank
Successor Colonial Bank, Commonwealth Bank
Headquarters Hobart, Australia
Area served
 Tasmania
Owner Government of Tasmania

The Trust Bank of Tasmania (trading as Trust Bank) was a state bank operating in Tasmania, Australia. It was founded in 1991 from the merger of the Tasmania Bank and Hobart Savings Bank/Savings Bank of Tasmania. It was sold to Colonial Mutual in 1999.

Contents

Foundation

During the mid-1980s, the Tasmanian Government attempted to create a single state bank by merging the two trustee banks, the Savings Bank of Tasmania and the Launceston Savings Bank. This failed, however; the Launceston Savings Bank eventually merged with the Perpetual Executors Building Society to form the Tasmania Bank in 1987. The Savings Bank of Tasmania continued to operate separately. [1]

Poor lending strategies led the Tasmania Bank to crisis in 1989, and through financial injection by the state government and the inclusion of the Savings Bank of Tasmania, a merger was considered. [1] The state government deliberated, and put forth the Trust Bank (Arrangements) Act 1991, which gained Royal Assent on 1 May 1991. The new company operated as a trustee bank structure like those of its predecessors. [2]

The Trust Bank was an important institution within the state for its short period, through financial backing of local business and by community sponsorship. Trust Bank was official sponsor of the Tasmania cricket team in the late 1990s, and funded its own art prize. In 1997 Trust Bank was registered through the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and became a limited company corporation with shareholders. [3] Regardless, Trust Bank had difficulty in maintaining competitiveness in the Australian capital market, especially during a time of large market share between rival credit unions and banks. [1]

Acquisition

On 16 November 1999, Colonial Mutual announced that it would acquire Trust Bank through its wholly owned subsidiary State Bank of New South Wales, for $149.1 million from the Tasmanian Government. At this time, Trust Bank had 40 branches statewide, and held more than 30% of the Tasmanian retail deposit market. 25% of outstanding loans in the state were through Trust Bank. [4]

The state government was adamant about privatisation as a way of benefiting Tasmanians, and Colonial agreed to no job losses or branch closures. Trust Bank continued as Colonial Trust Bank. [5] On 10 March 2000 the Commonwealth Bank and Colonial Mutual announced their intention to merge, which caused vocal concerns by the Tasmanian Labor government. The Federal Government argued that the Tasmanian government had to abide by competition policy. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission did not oppose the merger. [6] Up to 300 jobs and 30 branches were expected to close after the merger. [7]

On 31 May 2000 the two banks merged, after the Commonwealth Bank appeased the Tasmanian Government by agreeing to establish either one or more call centres in Tasmania, to provide $4 million for computers in local schools and to maintain rural branches; although this agreement was only applicable for five years. The Commonwealth Bank now held over 50% of the Tasmanian banking market. [7]

Trust Bank as a brand continued until the end of May 2000, when the Commonwealth Bank transferred accounts and policies to their division, and began integration of Colonial Trust Bank assets.

Legacy

An inquiry into the sale of Trust Bank was established in Tasmania by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Public Accounts. In it, the benefits of the sale were prescribed as a revenue of $5 million from stamp duty due to the sale, and $98.24 million had been used to reduce state debt. it was hoped a total of $134.1 million could be used in debt reduction. It also discussed pressure placed upon the directors of the Trust Bank, particularly in regards to funding and studies about information technology. [8]

Today, no significant physical proof of the Trust Bank exists. Many old branches were sold off or re-branded Commonwealth Bank.

Following the sale, the state government passed the Trust Bank Sale Act 1999 on 26 November 2000, which repealed all laws related to the Bank and officially disbanded the board of directors. The Act also established the Tasmanian Community Fund using money from the sale of Trust Bank, and the fund continues today. [9]

Related Research Articles

Washington Mutual, Inc. was an American savings bank holding company based in Seattle. It was the parent company of WaMu Bank, which was the largest savings and loan association in the United States until its collapse in 2008.

The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the Last Glacial Period when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the British colonisation of Tasmania in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth Bank</span> Australian multinational bank

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services, including retail, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance, investment, and broking services. The Commonwealth Bank is the largest Australian listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange as of August 2015, with brands including Bankwest, Colonial First State Investments, ASB Bank, Commonwealth Securities (CommSec) and Commonwealth Insurance (CommInsure). Its former constituent parts were the Commonwealth Trading Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia, and the Commonwealth Development Bank.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BankSA</span> Australian bank

BankSA, formerly known as the Bank of South Australia, the State Bank of South Australia and the Savings Bank of South Australia is the largest bank in South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Westpac.

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.

Gail Kelly is a South African-born Australian businesswoman. In 2002, she became the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company and in 2005 was the highest paid woman in an Australian corporation. She is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Westpac, a role she held from 2008 to 2015. In 2010 Kelly was named 8th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes and as of 2014, she is listed in 56th place.

H.F. Ahmanson & Co. was a California holding company named after Howard F. Ahmanson Sr. It was best known as the parent of Home Savings of America, once one of the largest savings and loan associations in the United States.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Choice Credit Union</span> Australian credit union

Australian Central Credit Union 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rail transport in Tasmania</span>

Rail transport in Tasmania consists of a network of narrow gauge track of 1,067 mm reaching virtually all cities and major towns in the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Today, rail services are focused primarily on bulk freight, with no commercial passenger services being operated. The mainline railways of Tasmania are currently operated by TasRail, a Government of Tasmania-owned Corporation, who owns and maintains both rolling stock, locomotives, and track infrastructure.

The Bank of Papua New Guinea is the central bank of Papua New Guinea, which has a core mandate to ensure price stability and maintain macroeconomic growth. To achieve this, it discharges four main functions; 1. responsible for the formulation and implementation of monetary policy, 2. ensure financial system development and stability, 3. ensure the payment system remain efficient, and 4. provide a banking role to the Government. It also manages the country's foreign reserves, issue the country's currency, manages the gold and foreign exchange of Papua New Guinea.

BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) is the largest bank in Papua New Guinea, with 121 branches throughout the country and in 7 countries. BSP currently services over 650,000 business banking customers throughout the Pacific. As at 31 December 2022, BSP had total assets valued at K33.9 billion. Bank South Pacific is listed on the PNG Exchange Markets (PNGX) and, as of 25 May 2021, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

The four pillars policy is an Australian Government policy to maintain the separation of the four largest banks in Australia by rejecting any merger or acquisition between the four major banks. The policy, rather than formal regulation, first articulated in 1990, reflects the competitive concerns of more concentration as well as the broad political unpopularity of further bank mergers. A number of economically liberalist commentators have argued that the "four pillars" policy is built upon economic fallacies and works against Australia's better interests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westpac</span> Australian multinational bank

Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney.

Eastern Bank is a bank based in Boston, Massachusetts. Before de-mutualizing in 2020, it was the oldest and largest mutual bank in the United States and the largest community bank in Massachusetts. With 95 branches, Eastern had a 3.2% market share in Massachusetts in 2016. It was founded in 1818 in Salem, and then moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. The company began an aggressive expansion campaign near the end of the 1990s and moved its headquarters to Boston's Financial District. In 2020, Eastern Bank announced plans to de-mutualize and become a publicly traded corporation.

Bank United Corporation, headquartered in Houston, Texas, was a broad-based financial services provider and the largest publicly traded depository institution headquartered in Texas before its merger with Washington Mutual in 2001. Bank United Corp. conducted its business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bank United, a federally chartered savings bank. The company operated a 155-branch community banking network in Texas, including 77 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, 66 in the greater Houston area, five in Midland, four in Austin, and three in San Antonio; operated 19 SBA lending offices in 14 states; was a national middle market commercial bank with 23 regional offices in 16 states; originated mortgage loans through 11 wholesale offices in 10 states; operated a national mortgage servicing business serving approximately 324,000 customers, and managed an investment portfolio. As of June 30, 2000, Bank United Corp. had assets of $18.2 billion, deposits of $8.8 billion, and stockholder's equity of $823 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern & Central Savings Bank</span>

Eastern & Central Savings Bank was a savings bank that operated in New Zealand between 1972 and 1987. It was the result of a merger between two smaller regional savings banks; Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne Savings Bank and Manawatu Wairarapa Savings Bank. Fifteen years later it absorbed the customers of Trust Bank Wanganui to become Trust Bank Central.

PT Bank OCBC NISP Tbk, trading as OCBC Indonesia, is an Indonesian publicly listed banking and financial services company headquartered in South Jakarta, Indonesia. The bank is owned by Singaporean banking and financial group, OCBC Bank, which holds 85.1% of shares. OCBC is an Indonesia's 8th largest bank by assets and has 337 branches and offices and 780 ATMs located across the country.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Felmingham, Bruce. "Banking and Finance". The Companion to Tasmanian History. Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Tasmania, Government of. "Trust Bank (Arrangements) Act 1991 (No. 2 of 1991)". Tasmanian Numbered Acts. Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Tasmania, Government of. "TRUST BANK (CORPORATISATION) ACT 1997 (NO. 7 OF 1997)". Tasmanian Numbered Acts. Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Westpac. "Trust Bank of Tasmania Limited/Colonial Limited". WikiInvest. Westpac Banking Corporation. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  5. ↑ Bainbridge, Alex. "Bank merger will hit Tasmania hard". Green Left . Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Enright, Lin. "ACCC not to oppose Commonwealth Bank/Colonial Merger". Media Releases. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission . Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  7. 1 2 Carmody, Rebecca. "Tasmanian Govt backflip on bank merger concern". The World Today . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Tasmania, Government of. "Inquiry into Certain Matters Related to the Sale of The Trust Bank" (PDF). Parliament of Tasmania. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  9. ↑ Tasmania, Government of. "TRUST BANK SALE ACT 1999 (NO. 76 OF 1999)". Tasmanian Numbered Acts. Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.