14 October, 2020

• Net profit $25.7 million
• Membership up to nearly 211,000 members across Australia
• Total assets grew 1.2 per cent to $8.14 billion
• Maintained a 20-year record of above system housing loan growth at 2.62 per cent¹
• Capital adequacy increased to 15.3 per cent
• Loans for Health Professionals Bank division grew to $110 million during its first full year in market (reached $200.8 million in September 2020) 

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited, one of Australia’s largest mutual banks, has remained resilient during the 2019-2020 financial year, posting results indicative of current economic conditions. In its 54th year of operation the Group returned a net profit of $25.7 million, down from $27.06 million in the previous year and indicative of higher provisions made during the pandemic.

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited CEO, Steve James, said the mutual bank’s performance has been shaped by an unrelenting focus on supporting its key worker membership base through the challenges of 2020. 

“Our Board and Management team take pride and feel the responsibility that comes with serving firefighters, nurses and midwives, university staff and students, teachers, and their families. This year many of our members have been at the frontline of some of the greatest challenges faced by our generation. 

“Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and turbulent market environment, we have remained focused on our purpose – to serve our members – and adapted in order to provide them with the right level of support,” Mr James said.

As a mutual, the financial wellbeing of members is of utmost importance. More than 960 members were supported with a Repayment Pause on their home loans, representing 4 per cent of the Bank’s Home Loan assets. An additional 150 members were granted Financial Hardship relief, which provides support on a case-by-case basis. 

In March over 85% of the mutual bank’s 613 employees transitioned to securely work from home in just two days, thanks to past investment in technology. COVID-19 has also encouraged more members to embrace digital banking technology, prompting the mutual to commit further investment into digitally-focused member experience projects.

In FY2019-20 $4.8 million was spent on a range of projects aimed at enhancing technology, accessibility and improving member experience, including a significant online banking services upgrade. In FY2020-21, this is forecast to grow to $8.6 million.

“The wider acceleration towards digital delivery, including the opportunities to come with Open Banking, led to a recent Board-approved decision to adopt a digital-first strategy including the launch of a digital platform. This platform will be built upon and underpinned by our ethical credentials and values-based banking business model. I look forward to providing more information about this in the near future,” said Mr James.

Mr James confirmed that Teachers Mutual Bank Limited’s operations and future plans are underpinned by a commitment to ethical banking.

“This year we made great progress towards our goal of being Australia’s most socially responsible bank by investing 7.1 per cent of net profits after tax back into the communities of our members. We also increased the number of Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) Certified products on our balance sheet by 85% to a total of $1.41 billion.

“We are the only Australian bank to have all wholesale and retail mortgage and deposit products independently certified by the RIAA as Ethical and Responsible. This means every deposit account we open and every mortgage we sell is a Certified Responsible Investment.”

¹APRA MADIS June20/June19 Loans to households: Housing: Owner-occupied + Loans to households: Housing: Investment

Media enquiries

Amanda Resurreccion
Corporate Affairs Manager
(02) 9735 9179 / 0429 421 611
[email protected]