RACQ has claimed bragging rights as the first automobile club in the world to launch a mutual bank, with 13 RACQ Bank stores opening in Queensland yesterday.The bank is the result of a merger - concluded in November 2016 - between two member-owned organisations: the education sector-focused QT Mutual Bank and the 1.6 million members of The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland."With QT Mutual Bank's many years of banking expertise and RACQ's State-wide footprint and digital capabilities, we can provide the modern banking experience customers demand," said Ian Gillespie, RACQ Group's chief executive officer.After the merger, the bank is expected to expand its member base outside of the education sector and onto servicing RACQ's large membership base. "What we hope to do, in time, is open more branches as we use the whole of the RACQ network to bring these products and services to all of our members, all 1.6 million of them in Queensland," said Gillespie. The ratings agencies are sitting back for now (QT Mutual Bank was reviewed as the launch date approached and remains at Baa1 and BBB+ by Moody's and S&P, respectively), with increased risks offset by growth opportunities, it seems. "This change in clientele will provide the bank with more resources to grow its franchise but will also increase the vulnerability of its asset quality to adverse economic shocks," Moody's warned in credit opinion dated 28 June 2017. "The education sector is generally associated with stable employment and income."Gillespie, unfazed, said the organisation had been working with more than 60 vendors to transform existing digital platforms to be equal to those of any top-level bank in the country.In a prepared video interview, he said that RACQ Bank would offer personal banking products, from deposit accounts through to mortgages, personal loans, internet banking, and a mobile banking app. The bank will also offer credit cards, financial planning and a private bank, in addition to RACQ's previous products such as insurance."We're even able to offer members some features the big banks don't offer including the three most modern payment options - Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay," Gillespie said.The fine print on the media release announcing the new bank indicates that Citi is the credit provider and issuer of RACQ Bank credit cards, while RACQ Bank promotes the Credit Cards, and assists cardholders, as Citi's agent, under an agreement with Citigroup. Another aspect of the newest mutual bank is its financial planning arm, RACQ Financial Planning. It's a corporate authorised representative of Actuate Alliance Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of IOOF Holdings.