Label change opens doors
(6 August 2012 – Australia) Toowoomba-based lender Heritage Bank chairman Kerry Betros said that switching labels from a "building society" to a "bank" helped improve its images and open doors to new funds.
His comments came as Heritage announced a slight rise in full-year pre-tax profits of 1.1 percent to A$44.36 million, slower than the previous year's 3.7 percent rise.
Profits after tax dipped slightly, although Betros attributed this to a tax benefit Heritage had accrued a year earlier.
The 60-branch lender, owned by customers and using the slogan 'people first', swapped labels to a bank in December.
Betros said the name change had not attracted a flood of Generation Ys. 'The change to a 'bank' is going to be a long-term process, from the point of view of attracting more people,' he said.
Yet he said the change 'has opened up some opportunities for funding'.
Heritage has dipped into other funding markets, including raising A$227.5 million via bonds to mum-and-dad investors in June.
The offer received overwhelming demand. It came only weeks after employment website Seek pulled a A$125 million note offer amid lukewarm markets.
Heritage noticed greater access to syndicate brokers and institutional investors, and linked this to the name change.
Profits after tax dipped slightly, although Betros attributed this to a tax benefit Heritage had accrued a year earlier.
The 60-branch lender, owned by customers and using the slogan 'people first', swapped labels to a bank in December.
Betros said the name change had not attracted a flood of Generation Ys. 'The change to a 'bank' is going to be a long-term process, from the point of view of attracting more people,' he said.
Yet he said the change 'has opened up some opportunities for funding'.
Heritage has dipped into other funding markets, including raising A$227.5 million via bonds to mum-and-dad investors in June.
The offer received overwhelming demand. It came only weeks after employment website Seek pulled a A$125 million note offer amid lukewarm markets.
Heritage noticed greater access to syndicate brokers and institutional investors, and linked this to the name change.
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