Bank Australia
Bank Australia is a customer-owned bank based in Collingwood, Victoria, tracing its origins to a 1957 CSIRO staff credit union. Over nearly seven decades — and roughly 72 mergers with other credit unions and co-operative banks — it grew into Bankmecu, Australia's first customer-owned bank, before adopting its current name in 2015.1
Governance
As a customer-owned (mutual) bank rather than a shareholder-owned one, Bank Australia's stated governance model gives every customer an equal ownership stake and vote:
"Being customer owned means our customers have a voice and a vote on how the bank is run... Every customer has 1 equal share in Bank Australia. In other words, when you're a customer, you're also a shareholder... You get voting rights at our Annual General Meetings... As we're not listed on the stock exchange, we only answer to you."2
Profits are returned to customers as "competitive rates, fair fees and quality products and services" rather than paid out as shareholder dividends or executive bonuses.2
Bank Australia is a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and a certified B Corporation.1 Antony McMullen — who has spoken at DOD events on economic democracy and cooperatives and co-founded 888 Co-operative Causeway and Co-operative Bonds — has described Bank Australia as an example of the cooperative sector using its seat at the table to influence the wider banking industry, drawing on a conversation with the bank's Rowan Dowland at DOD's inaugural Basil's Table event in 2020.
Recent structural change
In mid-2025, Bank Australia completed a merger with Qudos Bank, forming what the two banks described as one of the largest customer-owned banks in the country, with around 300,000 customers.3 Bank Australia also completed the acquisition of Australian Unity's banking business in November 2025, and in May 2026 announced it was exploring a further potential merger with P&N Bank.1 Consolidation among mutuals raises the same governance question DOD tracks for any growing member-owned institution: whether one-member-one-vote control and local accountability survive scale — a question this page will keep watching rather than assume settled by the customer-owned label alone.
Links
- Website: bankaust.com.au
See also
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"Bank Australia is a member organisation of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and is a certified B Corporation." Bank Australia, Wikipedia. ↩↩↩
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"Being customer owned means our customers have a voice and a vote on how the bank is run." Customer-owned, Bank Australia. ↩↩
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"In 2024, Bank Australia announced plans to merge with Qudos Bank, claiming the new entity would be one of the largest customer-owned banks in the country, with 300,000 customers, total assets approaching $20 billion, and almost 900 employees. The merger was completed in mid-2025, with Bank Australia retaining the Qudos brand." Bank Australia, Wikipedia. ↩
History
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1957-09-19
Founded as the CSIRO Co-operative Credit Society, its earliest predecessorFounding of the organisation
Sourcing: High
The bank has its origins in the 19 September 1957 incorporation of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Co-operative Credit Society.
↗ View source -
2015-01-01
Renamed Bank Australia, after trading as Bankmecu — Australia's first customer-owned bank — from 2011Renamed to its current identity as a customer-owned bank
Sourcing: High
In 2011, mecu began trading as Bankmecu, Australia's first customer-owned bank and, in 2015, it commenced trading as Bank Australia.
The 2011 Bankmecu milestone and the 2015 rename come from the same source sentence — logged as one event under the name it trades under today rather than splitting into two entries for one continuous transition.
↗ View source