We made several key improvements to better support our customers this year. Critical to our ongoing success has been our rebranding from CUA to Great Southern Bank, making it possible for us to appeal to more Australians than before. At the same time, we also helped our customers by launching our lowest ever fixed interest rate home loan, through competitive savings rates, and made big improvements to our customer services.
Becoming Great Southern Bank
Rebranding from CUA to Great Southern Bank was a significant step for our bank that addressed one of our key challenges - half of Australians don’t know what a credit union is, a figure that grows to 70% among younger generations. By changing our name to include ‘bank’, we increased our potential customer base, creating positive impacts on both our scale and our ability to better serve our customers.
Appealing to more Australians is essential for our long-term success and longevity. By growing our customer base we can offer higher paying savings accounts, cheaper home loans and better services, while continuing to always give back to the community. The response from the public to our rebrand has been excellent, with the percentage of people who would consider Great Southern Bank for their financial needs increasing by almost 10% compared to CUA.
Helping all Australians to own their own home
Our purpose was redefined last year – we’re here to help all Australians to own their own home. That’s why, with so many Australians concerned about their ability to buy their own homes, we continue to launch our own highly competitive offers and also support key Government schemes.
This includes the launches last year of
- our lowest ever fixed home loan.
- a $3,000 cashback offer to people refinancing their loans, and
- a clever Boost product that can significantly reduce the length of many people’s home loans.
Through our strong support for the Government’s First Home Loan Guarantee Scheme we have helped over 1,700 Australians purchase their first home with total lending exceeding $525 million.
We are also supporting customers through the new Family Home Guarantee Scheme which helps single parents buy a home with only a 2% deposit.
Our focus on helping all Australians own their own homes is reflected in our lending, with loans to first home buyers now representing around 35% of our lending, roughly three times what it was in 2018.
Encouraging a savings culture
We know many of our customers are also deposit holders, and we continue to help build a strong savings culture by launching a range of new products and online service options including Save to Own, The Vault, Home Saver and Home Saver Bundle.
Interest rates for our core eSaver accounts are consistently among the top five most competitive in the market, including our Youth eSaver which offers market leading rates for under 18s. Our eSaver Reward and Everyday Snap Accounts continue to win awards and gain new customers attracted to their rates and ease of use.
Kicking goals with Carlton
Just as we rebranded as Great Southern Bank, we signed on as the new Co-Major Partner of Carlton Football Club, in a move that saw our new logo brought to the attention of millions of Australians. The sponsorship builds on our existing three year relationship with the club, with the new logo appearing on the front of the player guernsey, key signage and digital communications, and soon on the club’s retail apparel.
The sponsorship raises our profile not just in Victoria, which is a key growth market for us that already accounts for 21 per cent of our loan portfolio, but to millions of people nationally.
Adapting a winning game plan
In July 2019, we extended our sponsorship of Queensland Cricket and the Brisbane Heat cricket team until 2022. With the pandemic fundamentally changing live sporting events, we took a flexible approach to ensure that our message continued to be heard. Our ‘digital first’ approach saw us increase our use of digital signage and online and television promotions, increasing our engagement fans, members and staff.