St. George Bank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St. George Bank Limited | |
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| Type | Public (ASX: SGB) |
|---|---|
| Founded | As a building society (1937) As a public company (1992) |
| Headquarters | Kogarah, Sydney, Australia |
| Key people | Gail Kelly (CEO) John Thame (Chairman) Rob Chapman (BankSA Director) |
| Products | Banking |
| Employees | 8,000 full time equivalent |
| Slogan | Good With People, Good With Money |
| Website | www.stgeorge.com.au |
St. George Bank is the fifth largest bank in Australia, after the National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ and Westpac Banking Corporation. It trades mostly in New South Wales and in South Australia through its subsidiary, BankSA. However, St George does maintain branches and ATM's in other states.
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[edit] History
St. George Bank was founded in 1937 as a building society called St. George's Cooperative Building Society in New South Wales and eventually grew to be the largest building society in Australia and it became a bank in July 1992. It then merged with Advance Bank in 1997. The dragon logo was based on St. George Dragons[citation needed].
[edit] Market positioning
St. George typically promotes itself as more friendly and customer-service oriented than the "big four" banks operating nationally in Australia. Relative to these other Australian banks, St. George has typically had more success in retail and home lending, with somewhat lower market share in commercial banking.
On 1st November 2006, St. George Bank posted a net profit of AUD$1bn for 2005/06, which was a 17.9% increase on the previous year. This is a record profit for the bank and was slightly above market expectations despite a weak economy in the banks main market of NSW.[1] The bank now has 7.5% market share in the state, although directors are aiming for 10% in the 2006/2007 financial year.
[edit] BankSA
The Bank of South Australia, known commercially as BankSA, was originally the State Bank of South Australia. It was sold to and merged with Advance Bank due to a collapse and bailout by the Government in 1992. BankSA has 55 branches in metropolitan Adelaide, 66 in rural South Australia (totalling 121 overall in the state, more than any other bank in South Australia), four in the Northern Territory and one in Queensland.
[edit] dragondirect
St George also has a smaller business known as 'dragondirect.' dragondirect offers high interest online savings accounts, superannuation, and discount sharetrading (through directshares). Directshares operates through online stockbroker E*Trade.
 St George Bank branch in Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia. Taken 6 April 2005. |
 Old St George Building Society passbook, issued 1989. |
