Who owns my bank or lender in Australia?

Did you know that even if you’ve chosen to become a customer of one of Australia’s alternative banks, you could still be banking with the big four? Learning more about which banks own other banks and lenders can help you get a more complete picture of Australia’s banking landscape, which could be helpful when making financial decisions. 

Which Australian banks own other banks?

• Australian Military Bank owns RSL Money
• Auswide Bank owns Queensland Professional Credit Union
• Bank of Queensland owns BOQ Specialist and ME Bank
• Bendigo and Adelaide Bank owns Adelaide Bank, Alliance Bank, AWA Alliance Bank, BDCU Alliance Bank, Bendigo Bank, Circle Alliance Bank, Community Sector Banking, Delphi Bank, Nova Alliance Bank, Rural Bank, Service One Alliance Bank and Up
• Beyond Bank Australia owns Nexus Mutual
• BNK Banking Corporation Limited (previously Goldfields Money Limited) owns Goldfields Money
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia owns Bankwest
• IMB Bank owns The Shire
• National Australia Bank owns Ubank and 86 400
• P&N Bank owns BCU
• Warwick Credit Union owns Dalby Credit Union and Gympie Credit Union
• Westpac owns Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, and St George Bank, RAMS, and BT

What does it mean if my bank is owned by another bank?

In many cases, nothing special. Even if your bank is owned by another financial institution, they will still provide their own financial products and services, and may have their own network of branches and ATMs.

One potential risk could come if you have  several large sums of money saved in accounts across several banks that all operate under the license of a single Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI).

According to the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS), up to $250,000 per account holder per ADI is guaranteed by the government in the unlikely event that one of these financial institutions fails. So for example, if you had $200,000 in a Bankwest savings account, and also had another $200,000 saved in a Commonwealth Bank term deposit, only $250,000 would be covered by the FCS if both banks suddenly went out of business.

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