News

The Mutual Bank is excited to announce its continued sponsorship of the High School Teams Challenge in the lead up to Newcastle Surfest. The teams challenge taking place on Thursday, 8 May and Friday, 9 May 2025 at South Bar Beach and draws talented young surfers from across the state. Open exclusively to NSW high schools, the competition features both boys’ and girls’ divisions, with teams of up to five surfers. The event provides a fantastic platform for young surfers to showcase their skills and teamwork – all at the start of the internationally renowned Surfest competition to be held in June. Surfest sees some of the world’s best up-and-coming surfers descend on the iconic surf break of Merewether in Newcastle as they look to qualify for the 2026 Championship Tour (CT) as Newcastle hosts the first event of the 2025 WSL Challenger Series. Matthew Dunnill, Chief Member Officer at The Mutual Bank, said the teams challenge surfing event was always a highlight on the Hunter-based bank’s sponsorship calendar. “The Mutual Bank High School Teams Challenge is a great opportunity for young surfers to gain invaluable experience and demonstrate their talent,” he said “We are proud to support an event that aligns with our commitment to helping people thrive.” There is no entry fee for the event and prizes will be awarded to schools that reach the final, with the format to include two non-elimination rounds before the knockout rounds begin. Each team can have a maximum of 5 surfers with only 3 surfers competing in each heat. Surfest is the largest surfing festival in the Southern Hemisphere, bringing together amateur and professional surfers for 17 days of thrilling competition.

The Mutual Bank holds a cherished place in the hearts of the Hunter community, and our new brand campaign beautifully captures this sentiment.  With its catchy tune, our “Make it yours” campaign is set to become a beloved anthem as it graces television screens and various advertising platforms.  This campaign is more than just an advertisement, it’s a celebration of our community and the unique bond we share with our Members, helping them achieve their goals and to thrive.  At the very heart of it, the “Make It Yours” campaign is about the customer-owned banking model and the pride we have in being a mutual organisation. What is a mutual bank? Well, when you join The Mutual Bank, you're not just a customer – you become a Member. This means you have a stake in the organisation and a voice in how it operates. You are part of something bigger, a community that values your input and cares about your well-being.  Our profits are not just numbers on a balance sheet; they are reinvested back into improving products and services for you and supporting grassroots community organisations. From local footy clubs to cultural events, our profits go back into supporting our community. When you bank with The Mutual Bank, you are supporting your local community, helping businesses grow, and creating local employment opportunities.  We are proud to be part of the community we serve.  The “Make it yours” campaign also highlights the beauty of the Hunter Region and features some of our valued Members. You'll see stunning locations like the river at Morpeth, Maitland Levee, Maitland netball courts at Maitland Park, Dungog Wholefood Co-Operative, and cross-code superstar Sheridan Gallagher with Maitland Football Club juniors. We also showcase local businesses SRH Milk Haulage in Rutherford and Elbourne Wines in Pokolbin.  Our wonderful Team Members are also featured in the campaign.  The campaign is set to an original song called "Yours to Love," which perfectly captures the essence of our message. The “Make it yours” campaign is all about our connection with the community and how we help both our Members and the community to thrive. With themes like "Your Life, Your Freedom, Your Memories, Your Team, Your Passion," The Mutual Bank can truly “make it yours”.  We collaborated with Jamie Lewis, a seasoned Hunter-based Creative Director with more than 22 years of experience, to bring this campaign to life. Jamie has a proven track record of helping clients achieve their goals and drive growth across various industries, including finance, housing, retail, heavy industry, and education.  Join us in celebrating our community and the people who make it special. 

The Mutual Bank has joined the fight for a better deal to meet the increasing costs of helping its regional customers who need access to cash, and trained assistance in dealing with scams and fraud. Our CEO Mark Williams said The Mutual Bank’s seven branches play a key role in supporting the communities it serves but, like many small regional banks, are challenged with avoiding becoming “pass-through” branches for the major banks. The Mutual Bank has joined an alliance of 19 regional banks calling for the introduction of a shared cost model to support the vital services provided by bank branches in regional communities such as cash handling, assistance for seniors or people with a disability and support with scams and fraud. Under a shared cost model, big banks whose regional branch investment falls short of the industry average would be required to assist. As such, the model will ensure that all banks meet or exceed those baseline expectations, either directly through their own regional branch network, or via the shared costs model. “The Mutual Bank’s purpose is to champion financial wellbeing for our Members and regional communities, to help people thrive, and our branch network plays a vital role in achieving that purpose” said Mark. “Big banks that profit most from Australia’s financial system should be required to share the cost of supporting essential regional banking infrastructure in regional, rural and remote Australia as a fundamental part of their community service obligation.  Regional bank branches are vital to these communities because they provide key services such as cash handling, advice to customers as well as help in handling scams and fraud”. “The Mutual Bank is the only bank in Dungog and Mayfield and has fulfilled a much-needed gap for those communities in being able to access essential banking services.” Mark said while the bank had seen an increase in customers and branch transactions in those locations, the challenge remained to ensure it was not simply acting as a conduit to funnel funds back to the major banks who have withdrawn their support in those communities. “Our bank branches offer secure services and personal, professional advice that cannot be replaced by post offices or ATMs,” he said. The alliance is also calling for regional banks to be a part of discussions about the future of Armaguard and cash-in-transit services which are more expensive for regional banks.

We are thrilled to announce that our Business Cheque Account has been recognised by Mozo for its exceptional value and quality.  Mozo has been helping consumers make informed purchase decisions for more than a decade, evaluating thousands of products on the market, to help consumers make more informed financial decisions.  The Mozo Experts Choice Awards showcase the best products and services in the marketplace which offer exceptional value or quality for Australians.  The Mutual Bank’s Business Cheque Account has won a Mozo Award in the Small Business Exceptional Everyday Account category.  Mozo analysed 622 personal, business and Self-Managed Super Funds products from 85 providers across all categories when deciding the winners.  The Mutual Bank’s Chief Member Officer, Matthew Dunnill, said the Mozo win highlighted why The Mutual Bank’s Business Banking is one of the Hunter’s best kept secrets.  “Our Business Banking Managers have the local knowledge, depth of experience and authority to move fast to support your business growth goals,” said Matthew.  “We also offer innovative solutions and competitive products to help small business owners.   “Our Business Cheque Account is a great example of fuss-free support, offering at-call access to your funds with no monthly account-keeping fee.”  The Business Cheque Account win follows The Mutual Bank’s Budget Home Loan winning a Mozo Award three years running.  You can read more information about the Mozo Experts Choice Awards and the full list of winners here.  Keen to know more? Learn more about our award-winning Business Cheque Account and how it can benefit your business here. 

In 2025, the United Nations declared a second International Year of Cooperatives to recognise the global impact of three million member-owned businesses.  The Mutual Bank’s business model, as a customer-owned bank that was established in 1888 to serve the Maitland and Hunter Valley communities, means that we form part of the 750 co-ops and mutuals serving NSW.  On Wednesday 19 March, our Chair of the Board Steve Meyn and CEO Mark Williams attended a function at NSW Parliament House to launch the International Year of Cooperatives and celebrate the contribution of co-operatives and mutuals to the NSW community and economy.    “The merits of the customer-owned banking business model remain as relevant today as they ever were,” said Mark.  “The Mutual Bank's legacy is built on the values of integrity, respect and care and the focus of our organisation is to continue to champion financial wellbeing for our Members and our regional communities.”  Mark said despite a range of challenges in its 137-year history, The Mutual Bank has consistently offered strength, security and stability to its Members and the local community.  By continuously investing in local initiatives and pricing essential support to various community groups, we not only strengthen our financial services but also foster a sense of unity and resilience in region.    Amid corporate volatility, The Mutual Bank showcases stability, innovation and success, proving business can be both profitable and principled.  We have also taken part in the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals Icons Campaign, sharing our story. You can read it here: https://iyc2025.bccm.coop/the-mutual-bank-helping-the-community-thrive-since-1888/  We thank all our loyal Members for their ongoing support and loyalty and as we have done over our history, The Mutual Bank will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our Members and communities.   

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our redesigned Mutual App, bringing you a fresh look and enhanced functionality to make your banking experience even better.  Thanks to valuable Member feedback, we've made changes to the navigation menu in our App, making it more user-friendly and intuitive. This includes:  A streamlined menu layout for easier access to key features.  Enhanced categorisation of services to help find what you need quickly.  Members can also now view and set their own daily transaction limits on payments. Previously, this required messaging or calling our team, but now you have the convenience and autonomy to manage your limits directly from the app.  You can update your limit from the standard $5,000 up to $20,000. If you wish to lower the limit again, you will need to manually update it back to $5,000. Multi-factor authentication is required to ensure the security of your transactions.  We are excited about these changes and our aim to bring you greater convenience and control over your banking experience. Stay tuned for more updates to Internet Banking and our website.  What do I need to do to get the new-look App?  If you have automatic updates set up on your device your existing Mutual App will automatically upgrade, otherwise you will need to update via the App Store or Google Play Store.  How do I change my daily transaction limits on Internet Banking?  Once logged in, go to the main Menu in the top of the home screen> Settings >Daily transaction Limits.  How do I change my daily transaction limits on the App?  Go to the main Menu in the top left of home screen> Settings>App security and banking limits>Daily transaction limits.  Need more help? Please call our friendly Contact Centre Team on 1300 688 825. You can learn more about the Mutual App here.