Community-Owned Bank Takes Out Gong
6 June 2012 at 4:30 pm
An Australian community-owned bank has been named ‘Socially Responsible Institution of the Year’ by Money magazine.
Bankmecu took out the award for the most responsible bank (that is not listed on the stock exchange) in the magazine’s Consumer Finance Awards for 2012, according to bankmecu Managing Director Damien Walsh.
Walsh “welcomed the recognition” and said it was an “acknowledgement of [the bank’s] commitment to creating shared value on behalf of [its] customers, the community and the environment.”
Walsh said that bankmecu is committed to “responsible banking” and “adopting a broader measure of performance than economic growth alone.”
Reflecting on yesterday’s award ceremony, Money magazine's editor Pam Walkley said the judging panel, headed by CEO of Green Cross Australia Mara Bun, was impressed by bankmecu’s environmental and community credentials.
“Four per cent of [bankmecu’s] after tax profit goes back into local communities," Walkley said.
Walkely also made mention of the bank’s “go green car loans”, whereby, according to bankmecu’s website, “the lower the greenhouse emissions from the car you want to purchase, the lower the interest rate."
Bankmecu was formed in September 2011 after Treasurer Wayne Swan invited some of Australia's large credit unions to apply to APRA for the right to be designated as a bank, according to a bankmecu spokesperson.
Bankmecu had several founding partners – one of which was credit union ‘mecu’.
