| 2006-2007 |
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On 1 August 2006, BCU signed a strategic partnership agreement with APSF (Australian Primary Super Fund) at the Pub with No Beer in Taylors Arm near Macksville. APSF Chairman, James Ferguson travelled from Western Australia to sign the agreement and was accompanied by several APSF executives and directors who flew in from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Several original BCU directors and members were also present including Fred Bond and Norm Kelsey. APSF (later renamed Prime Super) was created in 1987 to represent Australia’s rural and pastoral workers. With around 170,000 members, the strategic partnership with BCU offered both organisations mutual benefits in expanding the range of financial services available to both sets of members. For BCU, the alliance provided for the first time an Australia-wide platform for BCU’s products and services, accessible through BCU’s online and remote banking facilities. The South Grafton branch relocated to new premises in the Bi-Lo complex in Bent Street in late August. Member for Clarence and BCU member, the Hon Steve Cansdell cut the ribbon at an unofficial opening ceremony held on Monday, 21 August 2006. With the South Grafton area undergoing a business resurgence, the new branch honoured a promise to South Grafton residents for improved and expanded banking services. August 2006 also saw the roll-out of BCU’s new staff uniform. Responding to members’ requests for a ‘New Look’ and also BCU’s expanded branch and staff numbers following the merger with BRCU, the new uniforms were chosen to complement and reinforce BCU’s new products, brand and image. For more than 20 years, BCU has sponsored the annual Earl Page College Coast Run which sees a group of UNE students complete a gruelling two-day relay run of 250km between Armidale and Coffs Harbour, finishing at the Coffs Jetty. Over the years, many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised for children’s medical research. In 2006 the run was completed over the weekend of 15-16 September and the tired runners were greeted at the end of the run with a barbecue hosted by BCU. On Wednesday, 30 August 2006 BCU opened its twenty-first branch in Bundall on the Gold Coast. The new branch was significant in being BCU’s first move into Queensland and the spearhead for a concerted push to capitalise on the growth potential of the lucrative and fast-developing Gold Coast market. BCU announced its revised and enhanced loyalty rebate program, effective from 1 November 2006. The new scheme offers rebates on many fees and charges based on the combined value of loans, savings and investments held with BCU, and rewards members on a sliding scale starting at balances of $5,000 or more. When the scheme was introduced, it was anticipated more that $500,000 would be returned to members in the first 12 months. In the eight months to the end of June 2007, $483,000 was returned to members in loyalty rebates. The official opening function to celebrate BCU’s improved South Grafton branch in Bent Street was held on Tuesday, 21 November 2006. The opening ceremony was attended by the Federal Member for Page, the Hon Ian Causley and Clarence Valley Mayor, Clr Ian Tiley. Around the same time, a major refurbishment of the main Grafton branch in Prince Street took place. Early December saw the awarding of the second BCU Bill Ussher Agricultural Scholarship. Two award ceremonies were conducted: one in Bellingen on Friday, 1 December for winner, Desmae Harrison, an organic farmer from Megan near Dorrigo, and another at Port Macquarie on Monday, 4 December for runner-up, Steve Manton of The Big Oyster. Following on from the opening of BCU’s newest branch in Bundall, a new 24-hour ATM was installed at the branch on 4 December. Another major capital works program was the installation and upgrades of ATMs across the whole network and a network-wide upgrade of the telephone system realising annual cost savings in the vicinity of $230,000 pa. In late 2006, BCU began offering home equity release mortgages (or reverse mortgages) through Australian Seniors Finance. Over the following 12 months the response was overwhelming with loans written in excess of $1.7 million, indicating the popularity of this type of finance. On 27 November 2006 BCU’s Grafton branch moved back into its former refurbished premises in Prince Street, following temporary relocation to premises in Grafton Street. Early December 2006 also saw BCU granted naming rights for the BCU International Stadium at Coffs Harbour. The three-year agreement with stadium owners, Coffs Harbour City Council was announced on 4 December and saw new signage installed at the stadium which boasts a world-class playing field and has contributed millions of dollars to the local economy since its construction in the 1980s. At the same time as the renaming of the stadium was taking place, BCU also embarked on negotiations with the Jetstar Gold Coast Titans to become their official community banking sponsor and raise BCU’s profile on the Gold Coast. Gearing up for their inaugural 2007 NRL season, Titans executives were excited by the prospect of a partnership with a regionally based community credit union in a large part of their geographic target market, and the partnership was announced in January 2007. Keeping true to the principles of community banking, the BCU Titans Junior Development Program was established to support and encourage participation in sport. The program conducts school visits, workshops and training camps for children and young sports people up and down the coast. And finally, in what was a very busy month for BCU, the first issue of the quarterly magazine, Let’s Talk was distributed to members in early December 2006. The second six months of the 2006-2007 financial year were focused on establishing and consolidating the new alliance with Prime Super. As the preferred provider of banking services to one of Australia’s largest super funds for rural and agricultural workers and businesses, we were now poised to become a national banking provider. During this period, BCU launched a BCU/Prime Super co-branded website for Prime Super members. January 2007 saw the launch of the BCU Classic and Bonus Rewarder Visa credit cards. The cards offer competitive interest rates, low annual fees and, with the Bonus Rewarder credit card, an innovative rewards program where you can redeem points via EFTPOS outlets throughout Australia. In early 2007 BCU introduced a new remote membership category: BCU Direct membership. This was designed to increase BCU members’ access to our products and services regardless of where in Australia they live and to retain members when they move out of the area. On 6 February 2007 BCU signed a memorandum of understanding with NECU regarding the merits of a merger. Both parties agreed that a merger between the two credit unions could be beneficial to the members of both organisations. It would have created the eighth largest credit union in Australia. However, following due diligence procedures and meetings of the two credit union boards, it was decide not to proceed with the merger and it was subsequently abandoned late in 2007. 12 February 2007 marked the Centenary of the Coffs Coast Advocate, with BCU a platinum sponsor of centenary events throughout the year, including the Centenary Fair held on Sunday, 11 February 2007. On 17 February 2007, the Jetstar Gold Coast Titans travelled to Coffs Harbour to play their first trial game against the Melbourne Storm at the newly-renamed BCU International Stadium. BCU also took this opportunity to launch their new BCU Titans Community Saver Accounts. Based on similar and very successful savings accounts developed for soccer fans in the UK, these community saver accounts offer an attractive rate of interest and once a year BCU donates the equivalent of 1% of the average annual balance held in the accounts to the BCU Titans Junior Development Program. The BCU Titans Community Saver Account is one of several Titans-branded products developed by BCU, which also include home loans and credit cards. It was envisaged that the new BCU community saver accounts would be offered to community groups across our branch footprint to assist them in raising funds and thereby substantially increase the amount of money BCU returns to the community by way of its sponsorship program. Following on from BCU’s success the previous year, in March 2007 BCU was for the second time in a row awarded a five-star rating (‘superior value’) across all four business lending categories in a national banking survey published by CANNEX, Australia’s leading independent financial services research group. BCU also received five-star and four-star ratings (‘exceptional value’) for several other products, indicating the high level of national recognition for BCU across its whole product range. In late March 2007 the BCU Board agreed to make two significant local donations – $4000 towards the repair of the Macksville town clock, and another $4000 towards the repair of the Bowraville town clock. BCU’s phone centre, BCU Direct moved into bigger premises in Gordon Street, Coffs Harbour in order to accommodate increased staff numbers as a result of rising call volumes. The number of calls handled by BCU Direct increased 14% over the year before, and the call abandonment rate continued to fall to 3.3%, well below the industry standard average of around 10%. After less than three years since it was opened, BCU’s Tweed Heads branch won a major business award in June 2007. At the annual 2007 Tweed BEX Business Awards on 22 June 2007, BCU Tweed Heads took out the award for best professional business with under 10 staff. In a ground-breaking initiative, the BCU Board approved the introduction of ‘community leave’ for BCU staff – a leave initiative giving staff access to one day of leave to participate in an approved community activity. In addition, the BCU Board approved the introduction of one day’s ‘well leave’ as a day for staff members to spend time with family or do something to increase their personal wellbeing. A type of leave believed to be unique to BCU, ‘well leave’ was intended to assist in attracting and retaining high-calibre staff. For BCU, community sponsorships continued to be an important way in which the credit union returned profits to the community. To this end, in 2006–2007, BCU returned $431,301 to the community via sponsorships to over 130 groups, or 8.29% of net profit. For the 12 months to 30 June 2007 BCU made a profit of $5,201,085. Membership stood at 55,630, assets at $860,384,742, and outstanding loans at $649,660,984. As at the end of June 2007, 840 members had converted to BCU Direct membership. Notably, there was a significant increase (an additional $12.5 million) in deposits to retirement savings accounts in response to changes to superannuation laws introduced by the Australian Government on 1 July 2007. The number of branches increased to 21 and staff numbers rose from 226 to 234. |