21 years of Freshwater community banking

Not so long ago, retail banking was personal business, the Big 4 had branches in most every suburb of the land and, much like the Cheers TV show, your local branch was a place where everyone knew your name. Even crazier, Freshwater was called Harbord. Can you imagine?

Then, with the millennium bug fast approaching, bank branches began disappearing. From 1993 to 2000, 1,706 branches were closed nationally, 25% of Australia’s retail banking network. And so it was in Harbord, when Commonwealth Bank closed its doors in 2000, shortly after Westpac had done so months earlier.

This was the catalyst for a group of passionate and dedicated locals, led by Ian Joynson, Darren Jones, and Brian Dunphy, to band together with the common goal that Harbord could create and operate its own bank. The Harbord Community Bank steering committee was formed.

Around the same time, and in response to the unprecedented closure of banks across the country, Bendigo Bank developed the “community bank” franchise concept. The steering committee drove 850kms southwest to the heart of gold mining country to speak to Bendigo Bank direct and find out exactly what their community banking concept was all about. Fundamentally, the community banking model has three pillars: to secure banking services for the community; to assist with the management of locally generated capital; and to enable the community to then share in the revenues generated by THEIR bank.

Contained within the franchise agreement is a provision that a minimum of 80% of profits generated by the business are put back into the community via grants and sponsorships and working capital for local projects, all designed to further enhance the community. This was the perfect fit for what Harbord Community Bank’s steering committee was determined to establish, but there was a challenge yet to overcome, they would need to raise $600,000 from community members to become shareholders and secure the franchise.

A prospectus was written up, printed off, and regular sausage sizzles on Albert Street became the HQ for crucial capital raising, informing locals of how the community branch would function and what Harbord stood to gain. Shares could be purchased for a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $5,000.

Many a local took their cheque book – remember those? – straight out upon hearing the news, pledging their support immediately. The $600,000 target was exceeded, raised in total from 420 investors. In 2002 it was only fitting the Harbord Community Bank’s branch open its doors at 20 Albert Street, the site recently vacated by Westpac, a superb premises to serve the Harbord community.

In the past 21 years, Community Bank Harbord evolved to Community Bank Freshwater, moved a few doors up Albert Street to its current location, and the profits generated from the banking business have contributed over $3million back to the community via the branch’s array of sponsorships, grants, and funding of equipment for the clubs and organisations pivotal to the community.

The branch premises itself is now also a community asset as well as a place where everyone knows your name, a space for retail pop-ups, art displays, and a superb location to do some good Aussie banking with access to award-winning financial products and services, and the wealth of knowing profits serve the local community.