In what has been claimed as an "Australian-first collaboration between a tertiary and financial institution," Deakin University and Bendigo Bank are setting up a community bank.This is, in essence, a local banking franchise model, with Deakin University set as the community, rather than a metro area or a small town.Bendigo Bank managing director Mike Hirst said the expansion of the Community Bank model into a university recognised that community wasn't just bound by geography, as was the case with a town or a suburb, but was also created through shared interests and objectives."The model is most successful where there is a strong community already in existence - and typically, the order of profitability would go: urban fringe, inner-city, rural, and thence a burden," he told Banking Day.Hirst also said Bendigo Bank and Deakin University have been testing the potential for a deeper relationship, after they signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2015. This has seen the two entities run collaborative projects, including a rural and regional employment development program and a scholarship fund for country students."Then, if they're prepared to stump up the expense to manage that banking business, then they can own a revenue stream which goes 80 per cent to community at the benefit and 20 per cent to shareholders," he said.Traditionally, community bank companies invest locally into services and people, through projects like scholarship funds, skate parks, community buses, sports stadiums and health centres.Since the model was established in 1998 more than A$148 million in banking profits have been reinvested in this way. The Deakin community bank will take the form of a shopfront in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood, with an online platform. Access to cash will only be via branded ATMs. Hirst said the launch was "imminent".