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G'day Mark,
I had seen your name and comments around here before but I didn't realise you are a fellow skip. (That's "skippy" - the bush kangaroo - for all the non-Oz folks)
The difference between the fledgling Bendigo Bank is that it is community based whereas the so-called majors exist ONLY for shareholder returns.
The 4 big banks spend massive amounts on feelgood advertising to tell you how caring and compassionate they are. It is a GIANT CON. They really couldn't care less. All they want is their pound of flesh.
The big banks are all about reducing service, closing branches, cutting staff and continually and massively increasing fees. This, naturally, creates an even more obscene profit which, after paying out massive salaries to CEO's and Executive Managers, is split between shareholders.
Community Banks like Bendigo, on the other hand, are focussed primarily on what all the others were originally founded on before they became deregulated - ie helping people.
I wonder at what point the focus will shift.
When the size of Bendigo's managed funds reaches a critical mass and Bendigo can play ball with the big boys then it too may become completely mercenary in its insatiatble hunger for greater profits.
Mark, I believe that this will inevitably occur as the "mentality" is transferred to its core by poaching or otherwise co-ercing executives such as yourself from the big banks into its ranks. (That was no sleight on you, by the way).
Bank profits in Australia are obscene in the extreme. The greed is incredibly demanding and never-ending. Hence, my comment about coin slots being installed for entry and departure.
Gary
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