When Satisfac Direct Credit Union merged with PowerState Credit Union in October 2009 becoming Credit Union SA, it had up until then served the people of South Australia for 51 years. “Satisfac” is an acronym that stands for South Australian Teachers Institute Savings and Finance Co-operative Society. Initially registered as a “Finance Co-operative”, it became Satisfac Credit Union Limited in 1979.
In December 1981, Satisfac General Manager Brian Flew gave an extensive interview to Australian Credit Unions Magazine, mostly about the credit union he leads. He noted that the membership is drawn from “the education community (State and private schools) who are eligible and who have joined the South Australian Institute of Teachers. The families of these members were included in the bond as late as June, 1980”.
Brian went on to say:
“The Satisfac board and management have strongly supported credit union development in SA. They have had directors on the old League and since inception have had directors on the SA Credit Union Association and the Credit Union Co-operative of SA. In addition, senior management participate on numerous boards and committees within the movement. Being an education community based credit union, Satisfac strongly supports and participates in the Association of Australian Teachers’ Credit Unions – as the name implies, an association of all the teacher credit unions in Australia (representing 155,000 members and $290 million in assets).”
Brian also spoke about the innovation undertaken by Satisfac on his watch:
“We saw the need and have upgraded our computer system for member transactions and were largely responsible for promoting the idea of a bureau type operation serving on-line access to credit union service centres, ATMs and central banking using plastic debit cards. We have supported this technological development financially and by supplying senior staff for the development and control of this exciting venture in the belief that not to do so would be folly, and not in the best interest of providing our members with service opportunities equal to or better than our competitors. It also provides that platform for future technological opportunities for such things as national links, credit cards, payroll whole of pay services, point of sale terminals, cheque drawing and clearing facilities.”
The November 1988 edition of Australian Credit Unions Magazine also briefly featured Brian Flew. Since his interview in 1981, Satisfac had accepted engagements of Adelaide Savings Credit Union but Brian was queried about another matter. At a Special General Meeting on June 30, 1988, Satisfac members voted to make member shares permanent capital. Satisfac was the first credit union in Australia to establish a fixed capital base.
In time Satisfac would accept engagements of Marine Officers Credit Union Society and as mentioned at the beginning it merged with PowerState Credit Union in 2009 and became Credit Union SA. At the time of writing, according to the Credit Union SA website, “Credit Union SA is South Australia's third largest credit union, with $1 billion in assets and over 50,000 members”.
