MyState Bank formally completes merger with Auswide Bank, appoints new chair

It’s a new dawn for Tasmania’s most recognisable banking brand, with MyState Bank having formally completed a merger that has seen its customer base and balance sheet grow significantly.

MyState CEO Brett Morgan. Picture: Linda Higginson.

Tasmania’s biggest bank, MyState, has completed a merger that will significantly grow its customer base and balance sheet, with CEO Brett Morgan saying the move will give the new-look bank a greater competitive edge and geographical reach.

MyState announced the completion of its merger with Queensland’s Auswide Bank on Wednesday.

Its balance sheet has grown to $12.7bn in home lending and almost $10bn in retail deposits, while its customer base has increased from 180,000 to 272,000.

Newly appointed MyState Bank chair Sandra Birkensleigh. Picture: Supplied

The merged bank has appointed a new chair, former Auswide board member Sandra Birkensleigh, as well as new directors, Gregory Kenny and Jacqueline Korhonen.

“We expect significant long-term benefits for shareholders from merging two strong, customer centric businesses with quality loan books and deep roots in their local communities,” Ms Birkensleigh said.

The merged group is set to operate four different brands: MyState Bank, Auswide Bank, SelfCo and TPT Wealth.

Mr Morgan, who is continuing as managing director and CEO of MyState, said Wednesday was “a big day for us and it’s an exciting day”.

“There’s absolutely no change for customers on day one but what it does mean is that, as a smaller regional bank, it’s really important for us to scale up, and over the last three years, we’ve grown 45 per cent, the merger supports us growing 55 per cent overnight - so basically doubling our size from three years ago,” he said.

“And that’s important, because as a small bank, we still have to face the same regulatory burdens as others - the technology costs are high and so scaling up allows us to spread those costs and allows us to remain really competitive.”

MyState CEO Brett Morgan. Picture: Chris Kidd

The merger comes a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates for the first time since late 2020, reducing them by 0.25 per cent.

Mr Morgan said the RBA’s decision was “great news for home-buyers and relief for those with a mortgage”.

“For us, we take that information and we look at the market and other variables. And being a small regional bank, there are more variables for us to consider. But I’ll meet the [MyState] product team and we’ll work out [any] changes that we’ll make [following the RBA decision] and we’ll advise customers as soon as we’ve made that decision,” he said.

MyState also released its results for the first half of the 2024-25 financial year on Wednesday, which showed that its customer deposits had risen by 2.2 per cent to $6.1bn, while home lending was up 0.3 per cent to $8bn.

It added 7820 new customers in the period and recorded an underlying net profit after tax of $17.5m.

Originally published as MyState Bank formally completes merger with Auswide Bank, appoints new chair