Us and them rule Tasmanian banking

Ian Rogers

Down Launceston way, those mixed up Esk rivers and their colonial era home-town banks flood and flourish with the seasons.
 
Buying into B&E Ltd is easy enough, will cost you next to nothing and might yield a packet in a demutualisation. Don't count on it.

Paul Ranson, the CEO of one of the better ends of Tasmanian business culture and one of the clearest voices in mutual banking is in the mutual business.

Bank of us, a B&E business is right where it wants to be, growing at 10 per cent, hitting an ROA of 0.5 per cent in FY2021 and sitting on a near record full year profit of A$6.1 million.

The net interest margin dropped in the prior, 2020 financial year and Ranson hauled it back in FY2021 to 2.19 per cent from 2.09 per cent.

Total assets for Bank of us increased 8 per cent to $1.3 billion, half the rate of growth in FY2020. This asset base is around one fifth the assets of MyState, it's local ASX-listed rival for parochial business flows.

While immaterial overall, Bank of us has elected to cease any new funding for the SocietyOne consumer lending platform, following a change in SocietyOne policy, and a portfolio in the low millions is in run off.

Now 15 years into his job and aged in his mid 50s, Ranson is one of the longest serving CEOs in the industry.
 
His bank, Bank of us, is going places and yet going nowhere at all, mainly the latter.

Tasmania, for now, remains the target market for Bank of us.