Australia's ninth mutual bank opens its doors for business on Monday. The new mutual bank is BankVic, formerly Police Credit.BankVic has written to members reassuring them that the organisation remains a member-owned financial institution with a focus on serving police, health and emergency services employees, as well as the broader public service workforce.BankVic is keen to increase its membership and believes it has a better chance of attracting new members as a bank. "Research has shown that 'bank' and 'banking' are more widely understood than 'credit union'," its correspondence said.It said there would be no changes to day-to-day banking arrangements.Since 2011, when the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority approved the use of the name "mutual bank" for mutuals with minimum capital of A$50 million, bankmecu, QT Mutual Bank, Heritage Bank, Defence Bank, Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank, P&N Bank, Police Bank and now BankVic have all taken up the opportunity.QT Mutual Bank was one of the first to change. Its chief executive, Mike Murphy, said it was a good move."The perception of the organisation has changed. People recognise that we are regulated in the same way as a bank," he said."It has opened doors to new sources of funding. We have good take-up of our certificate of deposit program."The chief executive of Defence Bank, Jon Linehan, said: "People think that a credit union has a limited product set. When you are a bank they assume you offer the full range."Defence Force Credit Union became Defence Bank in February last year. Linehan said the bank would report 20 per cent growth in mortgage lending for the year to the end of June. "People see us as more secure," he said.Earlier this week, Canstar published a rating of mutual banks. It rated bankmecu as Australia's best value mutual bank, citing its competitive products and excellent internet and mobile banking platforms.