Chair of the locally based Hunter United Employees’ Credit Union, Jann Gardner, said its members and the broader community will benefit from their new merger with customer-owned IMB Bank.
Earlie this month, on 5 March, members overwhelmingly (95 per cent) voted for the merger at a special general meeting held at Hunter United’s head office in Broadmeadow.
Jann said the merger will create more competition in the local banking sector, broaden Hunter United’s offerings and expand its community support in the Hunter region.
She says merging with a strong, like-minded organisation like IMB, allows Hunter United to better meet the challenges of increased competition in the banking sector as well as meet the increasing costs of operating and responding to regulatory change.
“The merger will offer our members an expanded range of products and services while protecting our customer-owned way of banking,” Jann said.
“We can bring the new banking services and channels, that we know our members want, more quickly and effectively.”
“Longer contact centre opening hours, more branches and ATMs, business banking, enhanced digital payments, and the removal of many account fees and transactional fees are just some of the benefits our members will receive,” she continued.
IMB Bank Chair Noel Cornish, said the two organisations are a great fit with similar history, values and strong relationships with local communities.
Noel said that, like Hunter United, the Illawarra-based IMB has its history forged in steel.
“Together, we want to be the leading customer owned financial institution in NSW,” he said.
“We look forward to expanding our community programs and investment, including our Community Foundation, in the Hunter region.”
Hunter United will continue to operate locally under its own brand from the merger date of 1 April, 2020.
There will be no job losses because of this merger and staff entitlements will be preserved. The merger has received regulatory approval.
Hunter United has approximately 10,000 members, assets worth $335 million and five local branches.
Illawarra based IMB has more than 198,000 members, assets worth $6 billion and 48 branches located in Sydney, the ACT, Illawarra and South Coast and a branch in Victoria.
IMAGE | Hunter United office in Broadmeadow
