Transformational strategic initiative

Qudos Bank and Bank Australia to explore merger to create Australia’s leading purpose driven bank

On February 1st Qudos Bank and Bank Australia announced their intention to explore a merger between two of Australia’s leading purpose driven customer owned banks.  

In initiating the potential merger, the Boards of both banks identified that there is strong alignment in the culture and values of both organisations, with a deep commitment to customer ownership that puts customers best interests at the core of operations.  

A potential merger would create one of Australia’s largest customer owned banks, and with this increased scale enhance the ability to invest in products, services and digital banking technology well into the future.  

Qudos Bank members and employees remain paramount in the decision, and will be provided with ongoing updates as this exciting initiative progresses.  

Why are we doing this?  

The Boards of both banks have identified strong cultural and values alignment across both organisations. It is the ideal platform to potentially create Australia’s leading purpose driven bank. Importantly there is also a shared and enduring commitment to customer ownership that puts customers’ best interests at the heart of the operations.  

Bringing Qudos Bank and Bank Australia together would create an entity supporting 300,000 customers with total assets exceeding $17 billion and served by almost 900 employees. A merged entity would benefit customers through increased scale and greater ability to invest in enhanced products, services and digital banking technology.

With aligned commitments to achieve net zero carbon emissions and to create positive impact for customers and their communities, a successful merger will also enable us to drive even greater positive impact for people and the planet.

What happens next?  

The Memorandum of Understanding that Qudos Bank have signed with Bank Australia outlines the principles and approach we’ll take to explore a potential merger. Importantly, this step marks the beginning of a process of detailed due diligence to thoroughly assess the benefits for customers of the potential merger.  

If both Boards decide to recommend a merger following the due diligence process, customers will have the final say through a member vote later in 2024 or early 2025. A detailed information pack will be made available to members to inform their decision making at the appropriate time.

In the meantime, there is no need for Members to do anything and there’ll be no changes to Member accounts, products or day-to-day banking.  

Learn more about the proposed merger and the approach we’re taking on our website.  

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This is an exciting opportunity for the future of Qudos Bank and Bank Australia, and we look forward to keeping you informed of progress in the months ahead.