Remember when: Gold Coasters were furious about the Commonwealth Bank’s Colonial takeover

UP TO four community banks were expected to be operating on the Gold Coast before the end of 2000 after overwhelming support from residents.

Flashback: Bank revolve over CBA

Gold Coast Bulletin, Monday March 13, 2000

UP TO four community banks were expected to be operating on the Gold Coast before the end of 2000 after overwhelming support from residents.

Talks were underway with business leaders in Biggera Waters, Palm Beach, Tugun and Mermaid Waters to establish branches.

Officials from the bank of Bendigo, the parent company of community banks, said the four branches could open by Christmas 2000.

They said the response from Gold Coast residents looking for a return to old-fashioned, face-to-face, services had been “astonishing”.

The anger was fuelled by the Commonwealth Bank’s takeover bid for Colonial Mutual which was expected to see 250 branches close and 2500 jobs lost.

The public argument over the proposed takeover went on for months, with then-treasurer Peter Costello throwing his weight behind it.

Gold Coast Bulletin 2000, March 13. Front page.

Shareholders, more than 96 per cent, overwhelmingly backed the move and Colonial shares ceased trading at the close of business on June 1.

They were replaced by new CBA shares at a ratio of seven for every 20 Colonial ordinary shares.

Meanwhile, a family outing turned to tragedy when an 85-year-old man driving a jetski at high-speed crashed into a bridge at Runaway Bay and was killed on impact.

The man’s family could do nothing but watch in horror as he slammed into the middle pylon over the Broadwater.

A boatie in the area at the time of the accident retrieved the body from the water and taxied it to the foreshore.