Canterbury Surrey Hills Community Finance Ltd. was created by locals to help locals get their banking back after the closure of banks on Maling Road, Canterbury and Union Road, Surrey Hills. The Surrey Hills Community Bank Branch opened in February 2003 and the Canterbury Community Bank Branch opened in August 2003.
We opened a third branch, the Ashburton Community Bank Branch, in October 2008. It was the first Community Bank branch to compete in a retail strip with branches from the major banks, and it has been successful in growing business and support from the local community. Our fourth Branch was opened in Balwyn in 2011.
Today, we are a committed member of the Community Bank network established by Bendigo Adelaide Bank in 1998. Bendigo Bank introduced the Community Bank network to empower local communities—giving them direct equity in their banking service provider, as well as the scale advantages associated with an established banking brand. Bendigo Bank provides the balance sheet, the financial products, systems and training, while the local community provides the premises, equipment and staff. At heart, we are a community business that focuses on supporting our community.
We have three objectives:
- provide exceptional banking services to our communities
- grow our capacity to invest in community projects
- provide a reasonable financial return to shareholders, many of whom live locally.
We are very proud of our strong and valued brand, our commitment to great customer service and our role in our communities. To date, we have invested more than $5 million in the Canterbury, Ashburton, Surrey Hills and Balwyn communities. We provide economic and social value by funding more than 290 community groups and organisations. We have supported sporting club facility upgrades and provided equipment and uniforms for sports groups, provided equipment for aged-care and community welfare organisations, supported schools and early childhood centres and leadership opportunities through our youth programs just to name a few. To see more about the difference our Community Investment program makes visit our Community stories.