Abacus, the industry body for the Australian mutual financial services sector, has released figures which it claims show that the customer owned banking sector – credit unions, building societies and mutual banks - are in an even stronger position than the latest APRA data indicates.

 

The industry body has done its own performance modelling which includes data from mutual banks which weren't captured by APRA’s report.

 

Six institutions that became mutual banks were not included in the 2012 APRA data, but were previously part of the 2011 data, which led to results that prevented accurate year-on-year comparisons.

By including mutual banks, figures show that for the year to 30 June 2012, the customer owned banking sector has:

  • Grown total assets by 4.5%;
  • Recorded annual housing loan growth of 5.1%;
  • Performed strongly in the deposit market, with 7.0% growth.
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Abacus Chief Executive Louise Petschler said credit unions, building societies and mutual banks have delivered a strong performance in a market that remains challenging.

 

"Our sector is delivering a customer driven alternative to the major banks and has recorded a stable and sustainable set of numbers," Ms Petschler said.

 

"It is important we report the performance of mutual banks so our industry can truly reflect its performance."

 

Abacus is continuing to work with APRA to enable mutual banks to be included in future quarterly reports.