ME Bank, also known as ME, is an Australian

direct bank A direct bank (sometimes called a branch-less bank or virtual bank) is a bank that offers its services only via the Internet, email, and other electronic means, often including telephone, online chat, and mobile check deposit. A direct bank has no ...

based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. ME Bank no longer has branches in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and Darwin. It became a subsidiary of

Bank of Queensland The Bank of Queensland (branded BOQ) is an Australian retail bank with headquarters in Brisbane, Queensland. The bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in Queensland, having begun as a building society. It now has 163 branches througho ...

in July 2021. Founded in 1994 as Super Member Home Loans (SMHL) by Australia's

industry superannuation fund An industry superannuation fund (or, simply, 'industry fund') is an Australian superannuation fund originally established to provide for the retirement of workers from a specific industry. While industry funds are no longer tied to specific in ...

s, SMHL became Members Equity Bank in 1999, and received a banking licence from the

Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is a statutory authority of the Australian Government and the prudential regulator of the Australian financial services industry. APRA was established on 1 July 1998 in response to the recomm ...

(APRA) in July 2001 and was approved by APRA to act as an

authorised deposit-taking institution Financial institutions in Australia are only permitted to accept deposits from the public if they are authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). The ADI’s authority is granted by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under the ...

, authorised to accept deposits from the public. Initially founded to offer access to home loan products, ME Bank today offers a range of low-cost banking products including home loans, savings accounts, credit cards, term deposits, and transaction accounts.

History

Industry Funds Services (IFS) was founded in 1994 by a group of industry super funds. Also in 1994, Super Member Home Loans (SMHL) was launched by the

ACTU The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

in partnership with National Mutual (later to become

Axa Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

). The primary focus of SMHL was on providing home loans to Australian members of industry super funds. In 1998, SMHL achieved $1 billion in funds under management; and in 1999, IFS entered into an agreement with AXA to establish a 50/50 joint venture company. In 2000, IFS and Axa launched Members Equity Bank Limited, that offered other banking products as well as home loans. Members Equity Bank obtained an Australian

banking licence A banking licence is a legal prerequisite for a financial institution that wants to carry on a banking business. Under the laws of most jurisdictions, a business is not permitted to carry words like a ''bank'', ''insurance'', ''national'' in th ...

in July 2001, and was approved to act as an

, authorised to accept deposits from the public. In 2002, AXA withdrew from the joint venture, and Members Equity Bank became 100% owned by industry super funds. In 2003, Members Equity Bank obtained a financial services licence and began offering financial services, in addition to bank deposit accounts. Also in 2003, the bank achieved $10 billion in funds under management. In 2009, Members Equity Bank was re-branded to "ME Bank", and in 2015, 'ME Bank' was shortened to 'ME'. IFS continues to provide fee-for-service financial planning advice for members of industry super funds. In July 2021, the 26

s that owned ME Bank, including

AustralianSuper AustralianSuper is an Australian superannuation fund headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. With approximately one in every ten Australian workers as members, it is Australia's largest superannuation fund. AustralianSuper is an industry superan ...

UniSuper UniSuper is an Australian superannuation fund that provides superannuation services to employees of Australia's higher education and research sector. The fund has over 450,000 members and $100 billion in assets (funds under management and total ...

Cbus The CBUS was a free downtown circulator bus in Columbus, Ohio. The service was operated by the Central Ohio Transit Authority. The CBUS service primarily traveled along High Street between the Brewery District and the Short North. The servic ...

, HESTA and

Hostplus Hostplus is an industry superannuation An industry superannuation fund (or, simply, 'industry fund') is an Australian superannuation fund originally established to provide for the retirement of workers from a specific industry. While indust ...

sold the bank to

for A$1.325 billion. ME Bank was acquired by

in July 2021.Treasurer Approval for ME Bank Acquisition

21 June 2021

Retail banking services

ME Bank offers customers a range of banking products and services, including transaction and

savings account A savings account is a bank account at a retail bank. Common features include a limited number of withdrawals, a lack of cheque and linked debit card facilities, limited transfer options and the inability to be overdrawn. Traditionally, transac ...

s, home and

personal loan Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washington, ...

s, term deposits, and

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

s. ME Bank operates as a

and has no branch network. Services and support are provided over the phone, through

online banking Online banking, also known as internet banking, web banking or home banking, is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial inst ...

, or by a mobile salesforce of banking managers.

References

3. https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/despicable-me-the-boutique-bank-raiding-accounts-linked-to-home-loans-20200501-p54oxn.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Me Bank Banks of Australia 1994 establishments in Australia Banks established in 1994 Superannuation in Australia