St.George Bank

St.George Bank
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Banking and financial services
Founded	6 May 1937
Founder	George Cross (chairman at founding)
Defunct	2010
Fate	Merged into Westpac
Headquarters	Sydney, Australia
Area served	Australia (mainly New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory)
Key people	Paul Fegan (former CEO), Greg Bartlett (former CEO), Rob Chapman (former CEO)
Products	Retail banking, commercial banking, home and consumer lending, commercial property development finance, invoice discounting, interest rate risk management, foreign exchange transactions, trade finance solutions, automotive financing
Number of employees	Approx. 122 roles offshored to India by 2011 plus others retained in Australia
Parent	Westpac Group
Website	www.stgeorge.com.au

St.George Bank is an Australian financial institution based in Sydney. Following its 2008 merger, it became integrated into Westpac and ceased functioning as an independent authorised deposit-taking entity by 2010.

The bank mainly caters to customers in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, while also growing its footprint in Queensland, Western Australia, and formerly in Victoria prior to the 2011 reintroduction of the Bank of Melbourne (2011) brand, which is likewise owned by Westpac. In both South Australia and the Northern Territory, St.George operates through its subsidiary, BankSA. The institution maintains an extensive network of retail branches and ATMs nationwide and manages certain back-office operations out of Bangalore, India.

Origins

St.George Bank originated from a series of building societies and banking entities. The St.George Co-operative Building Society Ltd. was established on 6 May 1937 in Hurstville, Sydney, with George Cross serving as chairman. It merged with the Cronulla & District Co-operative Building Society in 1945, experiencing rapid growth during the post-war housing expansion, reaching 38 branches by 1955. That same year, it transitioned into a Permanent Building Society, enabling it to offer larger loans with shorter durations. The expansion trend continued throughout the 1960s with new branches opening across Sydney.

In 1972, St.George became a pioneer among building societies by introducing online processing through an IBM mainframe linked to terminals. Despite a market disturbance in 1979 caused by radio personality John Laws, the bank’s financial stability remained intact, publicly supported by then NSW Premier Neville Wran.

During the 1990s, St.George moved its headquarters to Kogarah, NSW. By 1992, it had obtained a banking licence, demutualised, and converted into a public company.

The NSW Permanent Building & Investment Society, founded in 1939, was renamed Advance Bank in 1985 after receiving bank status.

The Savings Bank of South Australia, established in 1848, merged with the State Bank of South Australia in 1984. Following financial difficulties due to poor lending practices during the 1980s and a subsequent government bailout, the institution was divided into "good" and "bad" banks in 1992. The "good" segment was acquired by Advance Bank and operated under the name BankSA.

St.George broadened its interstate reach by acquiring the Victorian Savings and Loan Society in 1991 and purchasing Barclays Bank Australia's retail, commercial banking, and finance operations in 1994. This acquisition added 550 employees and 18 branches to its portfolio.

In 1997, St.George took over Advance Bank along with its subsidiary BankSA. BankSA continues to operate independently with a significant presence including 55 branches in metropolitan Adelaide, 66 branches across rural South Australia, four branches in the Northern Territory, and one branch located in Queensland.

On 1 November 2006, St.George announced a record net profit of A$1 billion for the fiscal year 2005/06—a rise of 17.9%—making it Australia's fifth largest bank at that time.

In 2016, St.George shifted its headquarters to Tower 2 within the International Towers complex located in Barangaroo, Sydney.

Merger with Westpac

On 14 November 2007, Paul Fegan took over as CEO of St.George Bank, replacing Gail Kelly, who departed in August 2007 to assume the CEO role at Westpac.

Westpac and St.George revealed their intention to merge on 9 May 2008. This proposal received approval from St.George shareholders on 13 November 2008 and was subsequently endorsed by the Australian Federal Court on 17 November 2008. Following the court’s confirmation, Paul Fegan stepped down as CEO. As of 1 December 2008, both St.George and BankSA operated as subsidiaries under Westpac.

The transaction, conducted entirely through stock exchange, valued St.George at A$18.6 billion (approximately US$17.5 billion), equating to A$33.10 per share—a premium of 28.5% over the closing price on 9 May. Shareholders of St.George received 1.31 shares in Westpac for each St.George share held, resulting in a combined ownership stake of 28.1% in the merged organization.

Post-merger, Greg Bartlett, previously the group executive for St.George Institutional and Business Bank, was appointed CEO of St.George Bank, reporting directly to Westpac CEO Gail Kelly.

Relaunch of Bank of Melbourne

In August 2011, the Bank of Melbourne was reintroduced as a subsidiary within the Westpac Group. Initially acquired by Westpac in 1997 and absorbed into its operations by 2002, this revived brand replaced the St.George Bank presence throughout Victoria.

Recent years

Towards the end of 2010, Greg Bartlett announced his departure as CEO, with Rob Chapman, then managing director of BankSA, named as his successor.

Under Rob Chapman’s leadership, St.George adopted a multibranded approach supported by Westpac, consolidating various Group business units such as RAMS and the reestablished Bank of Melbourne under its umbrella. The institution is now widely recognized as the St.George Banking Group.

Market positioning

Although part of the Westpac Group, St.George positions itself as more focused on customer service than Australia’s "big four" banks. While previously acknowledged for exceptional customer satisfaction in independent surveys, the 2010 CHOICE consumer report indicated that its satisfaction ratings were on par with the "big four," but lagged behind smaller credit providers.

Originally established as a building society concentrating on home and consumer lending, St.George has expanded its financing portfolio to encompass commercial property development, invoice discounting, interest rate risk management, foreign exchange transactions, trade finance solutions, and automotive financing (previously under Barclay Bank Business). The Automotive Finance division operates through St.George Finance Limited and St.George Motor Finance Limited and has been rebranded under the Bank of Melbourne name within Victoria.

Offshore

In 2007, St.George relocated segments of its back-office operations to India by outsourcing cards and loan services to IBM’s Bangalore facility. By March 2011, an additional 22 positions from Kogarah were offshored, bringing the total to approximately 122 roles; concurrently around 70 IT positions were outsourced to Tata Consultancy Services and Hindustan Computers Limited. More recently, certain card operations have been brought back to Australia.

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