Teachers Mutual Bank tech plan could shake up Australian banking

16 December 2016

In a move that has the potential to significantly reduce operating costs across the mutual banking sector, Teachers Mutual Bank will share its new technology services with other mutuals.

The reduction in costs will benefit customer-members and put mutuals in a strong position to take on the big four banks.

The CIO of Teachers Mutual David Chapman said “currently, the average cost to income ratio for customer-owned bank is around 80 per cent, while for the major banks, it is about 45 per cent. We can and must drive this down to keep delivering for our members.”

“Customer-owned banks will be able to gain initial access to this suite of pioneering digital services for the cost of one or two FTE staff per year.”

The sharing systems could create a force of mutual banks that will punch well above their weight with increased competitive vendor services, and superior digital services for members, claimed Chapman.

Testing of the new technology services has been undertaken in collaboration with Regional Australia Bank, another mutual.

Teachers Mutual is one of the largest mutual banks in Australia with over 170,000 members and billions of dollars in assets.