Bendigo Bank Geraldton celebrates 15 years of business, giving back to the community

Bendigo Bank Geraldton this week celebrated 15 years of business, during which time the “remarkable success story” has given $1.5 million back to the local community.

The milestone was marked at an event at Skeeta’s Restaurant on Tuesday night, with memories shared of humble beginnings when the bank first opened its doors in June 2009.

Branch manager Jody Beven said it took nearly four years before the bank recorded a profitable month, but it had “bucked trends” and grown from strength to strength.

“At June 2019 our total balances . . . sat at about $243 million. When we close off our books at the end of June this year, it’ll be over $450 million,” he said. “So it took us 10 years to get to $240 million and we have grown by $200 million in the five years since.”

Todd West, chair of organisation Regional Sounds which advocates and boosts the local music scene, spoke about how Bendigo Bank “stepped out of the mould” for it to provide seed capital.

“What Bendigo does at a community level cannot be underestimated ... without that support a grassroots community organisation like Regional Sounds couldn’t exist,” he said.

Bendigo Bank Geraldton chairman Rob Houwen thanked everyone who believed in the banking model.

“We all should feel a sense of satisfaction and pride in the part we have all played to enhance the lives of everyone in our community,” he said.

“It’s the model that works — 50 per cent of profits made by the Geraldton Bendigo Bank in customer banking are fed back into the community company to cover the running of the branch and then the remaining profits go back to the local community.”

Mr Houwen said as well as providing $1.5m in community grants and sponsorships in its first 15 years, the bank had close to $2m in its foundation “ready and available to be used for future worthwhile projects”.

“We’ve only just begun the journey of growth. As more people understand that banking is to grow a community, not to take from a community, the more we will accelerate the exponential growth of the foundation,” he said.

“I think I did once use the analogy that it was our job to establish the golden goose, and now we can have so much fun distributing the golden eggs.”