TSB Bank (New Zealand)

TSB Bank

Type	Trustee bank
Founded	28 September 1850
Headquarters	New Plymouth, New Zealand
Products	Banking and financial services
Website	www.tsb.co.nz

TSB Bank (originally known as the Taranaki Savings Bank) is a New Zealand bank with headquarters in New Plymouth. It has 26 branches across the country but is heavily focused on the Taranaki region where 12 of its branches are located.

It provides retail banking and related financial services to individuals and companies. It was originally one of twelve trustee banks in New Zealand, but when nine banks decided to amalgamate as Trust Bank, TSB Bank stood aside and remained an independent institution and has since expanded its business across the country. The bank is owned by the TSB Community Trust which distributes the income its receives from the bank back into the New Zealand community.

History

The New Plymouth Savings Bank was established in 1850 and received its first deposit on the 28 September 1850 from Waitera te Karei with a deposit of £34. At the time the bank's accountant was paid an annual salary of ₤20, so the deposit was a considerable sum. Eight years later the bank fell under the auspices of the Savings Bank Act 1858 designed to regulate the savings bank market.

In 1921 a second branch was opened in Fitzroy, and a third in Waitara in 1946. In 1964 the first central Taranaki branch opened in Stratford, combined with a name change to Taranaki Savings Bank.

With the loosening of regulations on banking in the 1970s, the Bank's position was sufficiently sound for it to take maximum advantage of its new found freedom. In 1975, Taranaki Savings Bank was the first bank to offer free, interest-bearing cheque accounts and in 1981 the bank pioneered New Zealand's ATM Cashflow network with one ATM installed in each of the Hawera, Fitzroy, New Plymouth City and New Plymouth City Centre (now TSB Centre) branches.

In 1984 and again in 1986 the bank rejected the branding adopted by the other eleven trustee banks across New Zealand, and in 1988 when the trustee banks were corporatised under the Trustee Banks Restructuring Act 1988^[1] the bank stood aside from the merger into a single Trust Bank, remaining (along with ASB Bank Ltd and Westland Bank) fiercely independent. The savings bank was vested as a limited liability company (under the name Taranaki Savings Bank Limited) on 9 September 1988, nine days after the other 13 trustee banks were vested in their successor companies.^[2] In 1989 it did update its name, to TSB Bank Ltd.^[3]

In addition to banking TSB Bank Ltd operates TSB Realty, with three branches in Okato, Bell Block and New Plymouth.^[4] TSB also operates TSB Holiday Shoppe from New Plymouth, as well as TSB Foreign Exchange from 13 branches around the country.

Sponsorship

TSB Bank sponsors a number of organisations and has naming rights to many of them. Some of these include:

• TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, which opened in 2010 at Pah Homestead in Auckland. It houses the James Wallace Art Trust's collection of New Zealand art, which is valued at NZ$50 million.^[5]
• Takapuna Bowling Club ^[6]
• Omanu Beach Surf Life Saving Club Inc ^[7]
• TSB Bank Festival of Lights ^[8]
• TSB Bank New Zealand Surf Festival ^[9]
• TSB Stadium ^[10]
• TSB Showplace ^[11]
• TSB Bank Arena ^[12]

Ownership

Ownership of TSB Bank remains vested in the TSB Community Trust,^[13] with all profits staying in New Zealand. The most recent dividend paid by the Bank to the Trust was more than $10million.^[14]

Branches

There are twelve full service TSB Bank branches throughout the Taranaki region, including six within New Plymouth City (including Bell Block).^[15] By comparison, Kiwibank has five branches throughout Taranaki (including two in New Plymouth), while ANZ Bank has five branches in Taranaki (with two in New Plymouth) since its takeover of the National Bank.

Outside of Taranaki, there are also 14 service centres located in Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Hastings, Palmerston North, Auckland (Queen Street), Takapuna, Newmarket, Napier, Nelson and Christchurch.^[16] These service centres offer new accounts & services, mortgages and (in some cases) foreign exchange, but do not offer over the counter cash deposit or withdrawals. Most do offer ATMs which can process these requests.

The Frankleigh Park branch was closed in 2012,^[17] the City branch in October 2014^[18] and the Merrilands branch in 2014.^[19] The City branch building was 83 years old but assessed to be an earthquake risk. The branch was the banks former headquarters and still bore the old name "New Plymouth Savings Bank".

References