About BCU

2005-2006
Following the merger of BCU and Big River Credit Union on 1 July 2005, the first six months of the financial year were focused on the integration of products and the merger of the two databases over the weekend of 26 and 27 November.

In 2005 the BCU Board created the BCU Bachelor of Business Scholarship for a local student enrolled in business studies at the Southern Cross University. Funding was approved for three years and the inaugural winner was Mitchell Tate from the small town of Manilla near Tamworth in NSW’s north-west. The award provided $5000 pa for three years and was designed to ease the financial burden of undertaking tertiary study for a local student.

On 20 September 2005, the BCU Board approved the purchase of My View Point Business Banking for a total cost of $46,640 which afforded improved functionality for businesses in internet banking

Due to an ongoing threat of interruption to services from floods, November 2005 saw the relocation of BCU’s phone centre from Bellingen to Park Avenue in Coffs Harbour. The opportunity was taken to relaunch the centre with a new name, BCU Direct, a new logo and more memorable telephone numbers (1300 BCU BCU or 1300 228 228 for BCU Direct and 1300 24 7 365 for phone banking and account information). With increased staff numbers, the capacity of the call centre rose to 6000-8000 calls per month and BCU Direct began offering products and services to an Australia-wide membership base.

On 21 November the BCU Board approved the purchase of Finance One Solution (GL reporting system) which among other things enabled BCU to instigate more accurate branch reporting / costings and more flexible board reporting.

On 9 February 2006, long-time BCU member and director of 23 years, Roley Palmer passed away at the age of 73 after a battle with skin cancer. A banana grower from Korora, he moved to the area in the 1940s from Grafton where his father owned a brickworks. He also grew and exported kangaroo paw flowers.

Also, in February, BCU’s long-standing human resources manager, Carol Ward resigned after 28 years of service with BCU.

On 28 February 2006, an upgrade of the Iluka branch was approved by the BCU Board. Work also included the installation of a new ATM – the only 24-hour ATM in the town.

Friday, 17 March saw the awarding of the inaugural BCU Bill Ussher Agricultural Scholarship. Created by the BCU Board to honour BCU’s first member and Chairman, the late Bill Ussher, the scholarship provided $5,500 to a BCU family-run agricultural business to access further training, education and professional development. The 2006 winners were mushroom farmers, Bronwyn and Graham Finch of Lakeview Fresh in Boambee, near Coffs Harbour. Not only were Bronwyn and Graham thrilled to receive the prize money, they were taken aback by the publicity the scholarship generated and the flow-on benefit to their business in terms of sales and additional contacts.

In December 2005 BCU was awarded a ‘Best of the Best’ award by Money Magazine for the Best Transaction Account - Non-Bank. This was the third ‘Best of the Best’ award from Money Magazine in three years.

Following this, in June 2006 BCU hit the national headlines when it was awarded five-star ratings across all four business lending categories by CANNEX, Australia’s independent financial services research group. A five-star rating is the highest possible rating (indicating ‘superior value’) and BCU was the only lender in Australia to achieve this extremely high level of endorsement for both its secured and unsecured business loans and overdrafts.

On 28 March 2006 the credit union began testing their new BCU Visa credit cards. Testing took place over a trial period of 6 to 7 weeks, in preparation for their official launch in January 2007.

On 26 April 2006 the BCU Board approved the fit out of the Bi-Lo shopping centre in Bent St for the new South Grafton branch.

In summary, the year 2005–2006 was the first year of the merged entity between BCU and the Big River Credit Union which took effect on 1 July 2005. The merger was mutually beneficial to both organisations, and formed part of BCU’s overall expansion targets within the five-year strategic plan. The merger saw an overall increase in the number of branches from 16 to 20 after the consolidation of BCU and Big River branches in Park Avenue, Coffs Harbour and Grafton CBD. The merger also saw an overall increase in staff numbers from 192 at the end of June 2005 to 226 one year later.

As always, BCU remained committed to the profit-sharing principles of the credit union movement and its community sponsorship program continued to be an important activity for BCU. Over the 2005–2006 financial year BCU returned a total of $130,500 (or 2.6% of net profit) to the community through sporting, cultural and community sponsorships.

For the 12 months to 30 June 2006 BCU made a profit of $5,067,269. Membership rose 6,666 in the financial year to 55,896, assets totalled $817,116,388, and outstanding loans stood at $618,542,734.