Bank branches out to regions
AT a time when focus on community standards in banking has never been more important, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and hundreds of Australian communities recently celebrated 20 years of its pioneering and innovative community bank model.
The model, which has long bucked a trend of banks pulling out of regional Australia, has sparked a community-led movement across the country.
It has delivered $200 million in profits back to local communities, generating jobs and local economic growth.
Communities take it upon themselves to decide on the priority of community investments and then couple community bank company profits with business and government support.
While the Big Four banks have closed more than 100 branches across Australia over the past financial year, six new community bank sites have opened across the country, with $18.4 million invested into local communities, backing a variety of new local sporting, infrastructure, education, arts and cultural initiatives.
In Far North Queensland, the community bank network is represented by six branches at Dimbulah, Mareeba, Ravenshoe, Babinda, Mission Beach and Cardwell and an agency at Ravenshoe.
A proposed new business service centre at Gordonvale will be opening in the very near future
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank created the community bank model with a belief all Australians were entitled to receive quality banking services and specialist financial advice, no matter where they lived.
Beyond providing quality banking services, the model also enables employment opportunities, a local investment option for shareholders, local business leadership opportunities and a revenue source for projects determined by local people.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank provides the banking infrastructure and licensing requirements, while the community runs the branch.
This alternative banking model has today become a network of people and communities taking greater control of their financial futures, investing something of themselves to create prosperous and sustainable communities.
We operate with a firm belief of feeding into community prosperity, not off of it.
It is this shared value and conscious capitalism attitude that leads to greater social and financial outcomes for communities as a whole.
Next week, directors from across Australia are gathering in Bendigo, Victoria for the annual national community bank conference and to celebrate the 20th birthday of the community bank model. Ross Growcott is Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Far North Queensland regional community manager