Bendigo Bank
Australia – the Land Down Under, named so because it’s located below the Earth’s equator. The country is as huge as the continental United States. Although the total Australian population is as big as that of New York, the financial activities in the country are no different from that of the Big Apple. In the land of the Kangaroo, from the Great Barrier Reefs to the Aboriginal Ranches, there is a singular name in financial services that people here trust – the Bendigo Bank.
The Bendigo Bank is named after its location of headquarters, in Bendigo, Australia. Although the Australian Gold Rush was more than a century over, the name Bendigo still rings when it comes to finances, especially because Bendigo was once the heart of the gold rush in the 1850s. In fact, it was the site of Victoria’s largest concentration of gold diggers. The city moved on after the gold rush, there are still mining activities present until these day though. The local economy is comprised of diversified activities including dairy farming, livestock, tourism, railroad, industrial, commercial centers, pottery, bricks, textiles and other manufacturing activities.
Bendigo’s fast economical growth is parallel to that of Bendigo Bank. Bendigo Bank is a three hundred fifty branch company with major banking transactions in Queensland and Victoria. In addition, the company has more than one hundred ninety community banking centers. The company joins the ASX or the Australian Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BEN.
Bendigo Bank holds many firsts in the Australian banking industry. The company is a host to many financial products innovation including the first ever Visa introduction in the Australian market in the year 1982. Bendigo Bank was the first bank to offer this in the country. In that same year, Bendigo Bank also initiated the Visa debit card use. Bendigo was the first to offer an account in mortgage offset which would later become standard product for banks. To penetrate more communities, Bendigo opened the first community banks in Australia in 1998. In the year 2002, the introduction of the Green Loans was initiated by the bank. And following that, Bendigo joined hands with non profit sectors which were aptly called the Community Sector Banking. Bendigo Bank Internet Banking is also one of Australia’s electronic banking transactions.
The Bendigo Bank history was a history of significant milestones not only to the company but also to Australia itself. Just barely years after the outbreak of gold mining, the Bendigo Company opened. The year was 1858 and the company served as a building society aimed at improving the condition of the gold fields in Victoria.
In 1865, the Bendigo Mutual Permanent Land & Building Society was formed. Several years later, an incorporation took place in the company thus resulting to the formation of the BBS or Bending Building Society. The following years were fruitful for Bendigo as it has many acquisitions and mergers from the years 1978 and onwards. The company’s first merger agreement took place with the Eaglehawk Star another building society in Australia. Bendigo’s first acquisition was made in the year 1983, when it bought the Sandhurst building society. Two years later, it purchased another building society, the Sunraysia. In 1992, both the Bendigo Building Society and the Sandhurst Trustees Limited made a merger agreement.
In the year 1995, the Bendigo Building Society bought the National Mortgage Market Corporation Limited; this added a new mortgage and brokerage division to the BBS. In the same year, it adapted a new corporate identity, shortening its name to Bendigo Bank.
The latest Bendigo Bank news is the company’s recent expansion activity – the merger with the Bank of Queensland. Bendigo today is a well respected institution in Australia. People will always remember Bendigo Bank as the company that stabilizes the economy from a time of gold stampede to the present.