Austral to fold into Savings & Loans

Credit union consolidation continues with Savings & Loans announcing merger proposals with mid-sized provider Austral Credit Union.

The 15,000 Austral members will have their four branches, six agencies and 14 automated teller machines rebranded to Savings and Loans, increasing assets under management for the credit union to $3.3 billion and the branch network to 36.

Earlier this month S&L announced no new loans through brokers, which traditionally supplied a fifth of lending, with the mortgage book as at March 2008 $2.2 billion.

The Austral merger will add $90 million residential loans on balance sheet, with $330 million off balance sheet due to securitisation.

The branch rebranding will increase the S&L Victorian growth strategy that began last year, with the extra Austral Mitcham branch adding to the already established three in Melbourne, two in Ballarat and one in Warrnambool, with six Victorian workplace agencies.

Austral Credit Union had worked closely with some of Australia's largest employers including Shell Australia, Kodak Australasia, AMCOR, WA Newspapers and The Herald and Weekly Times.

Austral Credit Union chief executive officer David Edwards will not hold a position in Savings & Loans.

Edwards said of the Austral members, at least 2000 from Kodak, Shell and The Herald and Weekly Times still remain.

New England and Orana credit unions are also seeking member approval to merge, which would create an entity with around $600 million of assets under management and 65,000 members.

The existing branch network of 25 has no overlap between their current markets, with initial commitments to retail all branches.