St. George Bank
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| Business Division of Westpac | |
| Industry | Banking |
| Fate | acquired by Westpac in 2008 |
| Founded | As a building society (1937) As a bank & public company (1992) |
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
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Area served
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Australia |
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Key people
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George Frazis (CEO) |
| Products | Retail, business and specialist banking |
| Parent | Westpac Banking Corporation |
| Website | www |
St.George Bank is an Australian bank with its headquarters in Sydney. Since a 2008 merger, the bank has been part of the Westpac Banking Corporation group, having previously been an independent legal entity. In 2010, as part of the Westpac group, St.George was deregistered as a company and ceased to be a standalone authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI).
The bank provides services primarily in New South Wales, but with growing representation across a number of industry and business segments in Queensland and Western Australia, and in Victoria before the relaunch of the Bank of Melbourne brand in July 2011 (also another division of Westpac). St.George also operates in South Australia and the Northern Territory under its "subsidiary" BankSA (a division of Westpac). The bank has a large number of retail branches and ATMs across Australia, and some back office operations in Bangalore, India.
The current bank is the result of the merger and/or acquisition of a number of building societies and banks.
The St.George Co-operative Building Society Ltd. was formed on 6 May 1937 in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville, with George Cross as the first Chairman of the Board. The Cronulla & District Co-operative Building Society was formed in June 1937. The two Co-operatives merged in 1945, and with the post-war housing boom, the St.George and Cronulla Building Society expanded rapidly, with 38 branches established by 1955. In 1955, the Society became a Permanent Building Society, which enabled its loans to be larger and terms shorter. In 1961 the first Sydney branch opened in Miranda, followed by the first Sydney city branch in August 1963. The expansion of the branch network continued through the 1960s. The Society also operated 41 agencies.
In 1972, St.George was the first building society to 'go on-line' with the installation of an IBM mainframe computer connected to 30 terminals. Shortly after, the black light signature system for passbooks was introduced, a system which had been adopted by the banks in the late 1960s.
In 1979, radio announcer John Laws almost caused a run on St George Building Society when he told his listeners "a big building society is going to go bust". St George kept its doors open and paid out every withdrawal. The then NSW premier, Neville Wran, later stood outside a branch and said he could personally guarantee the society's financial security.
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Wikipedia