Historically how groundbreaking was the merger between Heritage Bank and People’s Choice? It is true that historical building societies have merged with credit unions, but it appears that it is rare for a building society to be the senior partner in a merger with a credit union. One such case is the merger of Sunstate Credit Union and First Provincial Building Society in 1997.
Sunstate Credit Union began as Postal Technicians (QLD) Credit Union which was registered by and for Queensland postal workers in 1963. When it merged with Brisbane Credit Union in 1981 it became an Industrial/Community bonded mutual and changed its name to Sunstate Open Credit Union to reflect that.
In 1994 Sunstate looked to its community bond to drive growth saying, “our marketing will concentrate on lifting our profile in the community and establishing us as the credit union for the Sun State”.
Just three years later the aforementioned merger with First Provincial Building Society occurred which also included a second junior partner in Northern Building Society. This created First Australian Building Society which operated two brands - Northern Building Society in North Queensland and First Provincial Building Society in South Queensland.
In 2001 First Australian Building Society became part of Bendigo Bank.
Sunstate Credit Union timeline
29/11/1963 - Registered - Postal Technicians (QLD) Credit Union Limited
29/09/1976 - Name changed to Professional and Technical Credit Union Limited
30/06/1981 - Merged with Brisbane Credit Union Limited
06/08/1981 - Name changed to Sunstate Open Credit Union Limited
24/07/1984 - Merged with Toowoomba Savings Credit Union Limited and Gympie Town & Country Credit Union forming Sunstate Credit Union Limited
16/06/1986 - Merged with Gold Coast Credit Union Limited
27/10/1997 - Transferred engagements to First Provincial Building Society
