Pyramid Building Society
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The Pyramid Building Society was an Australian building society, headquartered in Geelong, Victoria which collapsed in 1990 with debts in excess of AUD$2billion. The cost of the collapse to the Victorian taxpayers was estimated at over AUD$900 million, causing a fuel levy of 3c-per-litre to be introduced by the Victorian government to recover funds. The levy remained in force for five years.
[edit] History
The Pyramid Building Society was founded in 1959 as part of the Farrow Group of Companies. During the 1970s and 1980s the Farrow Group acquired the Geelong Building Society and Countrywide Building Society, forming the Pyramid Group. The Pyramid Group's assets grew quickly from AUD$260 million to AUD$2,900 million between 1981 and 1989.
Former Geelong Football Club player, David E. Clarke was head of Pyramid at the time of the collapse.
In 2003, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade awarded a grant of AUD$90,000 to Geelong based company, World Wide Entertainment, headed by Farrow Group head, Bill Farrow [1].
[edit] References
- ^ Outrage over grant to former head of Pyramid, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, December 2, 2003
[edit] External links
- Australian Government Treasury, Financial institution failures in Australia - Case Study (PDF file)
- Jambrecina v Pyramid Building Society Ltd (In Liq) & Anor (2004), High Court of Australia, Application for special leave to appeal
- Pyramid chief gets $90,000 trade grant, The Age, December 2, 2003
- [1] Rubbery Figures Cartoon