The Mutual a local hero

Ian Rogers

Geoff Seccombe, chief executive of The Mutual Bank, in Maitland, yesterday announced he will be retiring.  

Seccombe will have clocked up the best part of 30 years by the time he leaves in early 2023, surely some sort of record.

The bank says it will kick off its search for a new CEO in October, though more than likely it has warm choices among internal candidates.

Trained by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (now NAB), Seccombe forged a career path in what is now known as mutual banking in 1989.  He was one of only nine employees of the then Maitland Mutual Building Society when he joined that year. He was promoted to CEO in 1994

The Mutual has adhered to the sector’s member-first ethos and never strayed from serving its core market in NSW’s Hunter Valley. 

The bank’s results for the year to June 2022 show an especially clean set of heels, with assets surpassing the A$1 billion milestone last year.  

A big drop in the interest expense helped pump net interest income and the bottom line, with a net profit of A$4.8 million, up from $3.5 million.

The net interest margin moderated to 2.38 per cent from 2.47 per cent, while the cost to income ratio in 2022 drifted to 78.5 per cent from 76.6 per cent.

Asset quality at the bank looks near impeccable, with zero impaired loans at balance date and an immaterial bad debt charge.  

Arrears are also very low, and housing prices in the region have, so far, moderated more gently than in nearby Sydney.

These and related disciplines helped The Mutual Bank recently score its debut credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service. 

This rating is BBB- for long-term debts and A-3 for short-term.  

The Mutual may be taking heed of APRA’s coaching on the imperatives of board renewal more seriously than many of its peers, with the retirement of its long-serving chair during the year, and a trimming of the board to five members.