Named Customer Owned Bank of the Year
The coveted title of Customer Owned Bank of the Year has been awarded to Great Southern Bank.
The top honour for Great Southern Bank was announced in Canstar’s annual banking awards on 1 June.
Great Southern Bank CEO and managing director Paul Lewis (pictured above) said the award was the icing on the cake for Australia’s largest customer-owned bank. It coincided with its first birthday as Great Southern Bank, which is being celebrated throughout June.
CUA changed its name to Great Southern Bank on 1 June 2021.
“This award is a testament to the incredibly hard-working team of people who work at Great Southern Bank who are passionate about our purpose of helping all Australians own their own home,” Lewis said. “This Canstar recognition demonstrates our commitment to customer service and value. We look forward to helping even more Australians realise their home ownership dreams in the year ahead.”
Read more: Great Southern Bank, SFG partnership to boost broker network
Canstar’s Customer-Owned Bank of the Year Award looks at value to customers across a suite of banking products – home loans, personal loans, savings accounts and credit cards.
Canstar general manager, research and insights, Mitch Watson said the Customer-Owned Bank of the Year title is awarded to the bank that provided its customers with the strongest combination of banking products.
“Great Southern Bank came out on top among the customer-owned banks in the research, having performed strongly with its deposit accounts and variable home loans, which are highly competitive offerings when compared to the rest of the market,” Watson said.
Read more: Great Southern Bank doubles lending to first home buyers
Great Southern Bank doubled its market share of the first home buyer segment, and its total first homebuyer lending, compared to a year earlier. The bank has also focused on finding more ways to help customers be clever with their money, including:
- The Boost – allows customers to pay down their home loan faster with extra repayments into their home loan every time they spend on their Visa debit card
- The Vault – allows customers to hide their savings account from view in online banking and add a motivational message, removing the temptation to splurge
- Faster, easier home loan applications – a new digital home lending platform has improved the customer experience
- Government home buyer schemes – the bank has helped more than 3,000 people into their first home through the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, New Home Guarantee and Family Home Guarantee.
