Bank Australia

When it came time to build their dream home, our customers Ashley and Julia had a few key things in mind: comfort, the changing climate, and creating not just a place to live, but a legacy for future generations 🏡👨👩👦👦 Our Clean Energy Home Loan is about rewarding people like Ashley and Julia who are making changes at home to address the climate crisis. Eligible customers can receive a reduced variable home loan rate for 5 years, or fixed rate for 3 years with a Clean Energy Home Loan. Learn more about our Clean Energy Home Loan and Ashley and Juila's journey building their off-grid passive solar home: https://bit.ly/3NjEioK

Today we released our annual financial results and report, showing how we use the business of banking to create a positive impact for people and the planet.   In 2024 we had strong asset growth of $1.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%. We also achieved strong growth in home loans and deposits, growing at 14.9% and 8.5% respectively, both well above budget targets.   Bank Australia Managing Director, Damien Walsh said ‘‘One of our key highlights for the year was announcing our intent to pursue a merger with Qudos Bank and increase the reach of our purpose driven banking to more Australians. We were also pleased to see more than 17,000 new customers join us, with 54.9% of these customers from our socially aware target market.”   You can read more at: https://lnkd.in/gJem8Q2q 

🌿Bank Australia joins Australian TNFD adopters🌿 We’re at the first Global Nature Positive Summit this week in Sydney and thrilled to share a few of the announcements we are part of. We have been named as an Australian TNFD adopter by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Earlier this year, we launched our nature and biodiversity strategy, aiming for a 2030 where nature is protected and recovering. As part of this strategy, we committed to piloting the TNFD framework, which helps businesses and financial institutions assess, report, and act on their nature-related dependencies, impacts, and risks. We've joined the new Nature Positive Matters Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minster for the Environment and Water launched the Nature Positive Matters, a government-backed initiative creates a network of leaders who recognise the growing international importance and economic value of looking after nature. We’re proud to be a founding member alongside other organisations including Blackmores, Bega Group, REST Super, Qantas, Brambles and The GPT Group.   To learn more about this, head to our blog: https://bit.ly/4853TeQ

When Babatunde started researching the purchase of his first property in Melbourne, he wanted to understand all of the options available to him 🏡 He came across Indigenous Business Australia a Bank Australia partner, which offers home loans that improve accessibility for First Nations people to buy property. He was able to buy a home full of peace and potential. IBA home loans are available to Indigenous Australians buying, in most cases, their first home and who are unable to borrow all of the required funds from another lender. We're proud to be a member of the IBA banking panel and help support IBA customers on their home ownership journeys. Head to our website to learn more about Tunde's home ownership journey: https://bit.ly/47XrFJt

Last week, Clara Kiefel-Johnson, David Wall, Daniel Odwarka, Mona Mahabale and Tanaya Joshi had the opportunity to attend the Customer Owned Banking Associations' (COBA) conference held on Kaurna Country (Adelaide) as part of The Emerging Leaders Program. Our Chair Steve Ferguson, Managing Director Damien Walsh, Chief Customer Officer Steve Odgers, Chief Financial Officer Claire Varro, Martyn Norman, Cheyne McKee, and Duncan Macdonald also had the pleasure of attending. The event was a great opportunity for our staff to connect with representatives from different purpose-led organisations. It was a valuable space to discuss challenges, opportunities, and share insights that can help drive positive change. Cheyne McKee, Head of Corporate Affairs joined a panel panel alongside Susan Redden Makatoa, FCPRA, GAICD, Managing Director of Stratagem Corporate Advisory and Gabriel McDowell, Executive Chairman of Res Publica to discuss how reputation and trust within customer-owed banking are influenced by media, social media and misinformation. Key takeaways from this panel highlighted the importance of: ● Focusing on customer values and interests to build connection ● Digital channels, especially user-generated content, are key to engaging younger generations ● Customer-owned banks to emphasising their difference within the market Customer-owned banks have the power to contribute towards environmental and social change and this convention was not only a meaningful chance to exchange ideas with like minded businesses, but served as a great reminder as to why we are proud members of COBA. #COBA24 Image credit: COBA

Apuot Bol was already a leader, so when our customer Mzuri Dance ArtisTree heard about our community customer grants, they saw it as the perfect opportunity to help formalise some of the entrepreneurial support work they’d already been doing with African-Australian women in their community 🙌 It was a love of dance that led Suzanne Watts to set up Mzuri Dance ArtisTree, a performing arts community organisation, recently turned not-for-profit and registered charity, over 25 years ago. Through her decades of doing this work, Suzie found she was sometimes asked for help by women who were keen to set up their own businesses. With the help from our grants the SHE Thrives was born. The transformative seed program is designed to empower African women from refugee backgrounds to start and maintain their own small businesses. Learn more about the SHE Thrives program: https://lnkd.in/gUYkTE7X

This month, we were proud to support the Gippsland New Energy Conference, which was held by the Gippsland Climate Change Network Inc. in Traralgon. The 3-day event covered a range of energy transition topics. Our head of Impact Jane Kern had the opportunity to present our work on our Electrify your Home pilot on a panel alongside Solar Victoria, the SEC and AusNet, all of which are focused on similar programs helping people transition away from gas at home. It was a pleasure to hear from a range of speakers including Chris Bowen MP (Federal Minister for Climate and Energy) who announced six successful projects in the Federal Government's reliable renewable plan. We are proud to be partners, having supported the conference for the third year in a row.

Australia’s biodiversity is rich and unique - we have a lot to protect 🌱 Working towards a 2030 where nature is protected and recovering alongside our customers and partners is the main objective of our nature and biodiversity strategy. To help achieve this, our nature-aligned lending provides loans to purchase and protect natural landscapes. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gv7H9XRz #biodiversitymonth

Join Climate Council for their 'Seizing the Sun: How Australia can supercharge more rooftop solar and storage' webinar on Tuesday 24th September, 12:30pm AEST 💻 More action than ever before is happening right around Australia, as communities big and small embrace the opportunities of clean energy, electrified transport and green industry. But there’s so much more to do. We're proud to partner with Climate Council on this event which will provide you with information, resources, analysis and inspiration on how we bring the benefits of solar to millions more homes, businesses and communities across Australia now. Register here for the free webinar: https://bit.ly/3zcDXkx

Get to know our partners Greening Australia, who help look after and manage our conservation projects, on Wotjobaluk Country. 🌲 Greening Australia is an independent and not-for-profit environmental enterprise, restoring Australia's diverse landscapes and protecting biodiversity in ways that benefit communities, economies, and nature. 🐾 We're so proud to be working alongside Peter Young and the rest of the team over at Greening Australia who've helped restore wildlife habitats and protect threatened animal species. Keen to know more about the work that goes on behind our reserves? Learn more here ➡ https://lnkd.in/gcn6Wdah