Consumer activities are conducted through the network of 396 St.George and BankSA branches, third party distributors, call centres, 1,132 ATMs, EFTPOS terminals and internet banking services.

Business and corporate customers are provided with the full range of banking and financial products and services, including specialist advice for Cash Flow Finance, Trade Finance, Automotive and Equipment Finance, Property Finance, Transaction Banking and Treasury Services. Sales and servicing activities for business and corporate customers are conducted by relationship managers via 28 business banking centres, and internet and telephone banking channels.

Big enough – small enough

Never has our way of thinking been more relevant than following the merger.

What continues to make St.George the successful bank that it is, is its people. People steeped in its local building society heritage. People who really care. People who are in close contact with the communities in which they live and operate. People who are accessible, who listen and respond.

We are proud of being Bank of the Year, Home Lender of the Year and of having a customer contact centre judged ‘best in the world’. These awards are a true testament to and recognition of the successes of all our employees.

At the same time we now have the backing of a strong parent, one of just a handful of banks globally with a ‘AA’ rating, providing certainty to our funding and our ability to keep investing in our brand. Through the merger we now also have access to a much broader range of products and services to better meet our customers’ needs.

Business as usual?

Well might you ask – what has happened following the merger? We haven’t lost a customer; in fact there are more people banking with St.George than before the merger! We’re now investing in more branches and frontline staff, and refurbishing our Kogarah headquarters, and are progressively bringing our existing branches up to a new ‘Future Bank’ standard.

If the recent measure of our employee engagement is any guide, with an increased score, higher even than that for The Westpac Group as a whole, our employees are telling us they are happy with the Bank’s direction.

From the BankSA perspective, not only have we grown customer engagement and willingness to promote over the year, our Net Promoter Score has improved from -0.1% to 3.9%. We have also delivered very low levels of impaired assets, at just 0.18% of total assets, which is testimony to the effectiveness of staying so close to our customers!

The St.George business banking model ensures that we have maintained the highest ratio in the market of relationship managers to customers. Our specific industry capabilities, developed over a number of years, provided a great example of success this year with our Health and Aged Care portfolio partnering with Thompson Health Care. Doug Thompson recognised that St.George shared many common values with his own – of putting the welfare of the residents of their homes first, as we do for our customers, and making their experience, and that of their families, the best it can be. That’s why he moved all his business to us.

You really can expect to see even more from your St.George in the future.