The NSW-headquartered Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (TMB) is preparing to add another brand to its stable of national banking channels, with the launch next year of a new retail platform aimed at health professionals.In a move that could disrupt the stranglehold of traditional providers of banking services to nurses and other healthcare workers, TMB chief executive Steve James confirmed to Banking Day that the mutual group was set to roll out a fourth national retail brand that will trade as "Health Professionals Bank"."We are going to launch Health Professionals Bank in the first quarter of 2019," he told Banking Day on Tuesday."It will provide full banking services to health professionals and their families across Australia."TMB currently operates through three banking brands - Teachers Mutual Bank, Firefighters Mutual and Unibank.The multi-branded mutual has been growing its customer base outside of its NSW home market since it converted to bank status in 2012.Most of its growth beyond NSW has come through online banking channels operating under each of the brands.It also has multi-branded branches in Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney.The launch of Health Professionals Bank will coincide with a distribution push into the Victorian market where a new branch and administrative centre will be opened in December in Melbourne's Docklands precinct.The group currently has 193,000 customers across Australia, which includes more than 6000 digital customers in Victoria.James said the Victorian branch would service customers of each of the group's banking brands.He believes the health services sector is under-banked even though mutuals and banks with strategic and historical ties to the nursing profession, such as P&N Bank in Perth and Q Bank in Brisbane, are continuing to attract new customers.ME Bank is also growing its customer base in the nursing profession through distribution partnerships with the Health Employees Superannuation Trust of Australia(HESTA) and the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association."We view this as a natural fit for us," said James."I do think workers in the health sector are under-banked in Australia although other providers such as P&N Bank and Q Bank are doing a good job."There are 1.5 million workers in the health services industry across Australia, so that means there are opportunities for mutuals like us to grow."James conceded that his bank had not approached unions and professional associations about the new banking service."We haven't had any formal meetings with unions in the health sector so far, but some of those groups have been made aware of our intentions for some time," he said."Obviously, we'll be going out and letting people know about the new bank in the next few months."While the peak body representing customer-owned banks - COBA - is prone to casting mutual banks as locked in a "David & Goliath" battle with the four major banks, a more accurate narrative is that they are fighting one other for a limited market of customers that prefer not-for-profit providers.As the mutuals try to build national brands, the focus of competition often becomes about outpointing an industry peer with similar occupational bonds,