Community Partnership event in Armidale

Regional Australia Bank, championing regional prosperity.

Over August and September, Regional Australia Bank is reaffirming its commitment to support their communities by giving back $627,365.01 through its Community Partnership Program.

After recently changing its name from the Community Mutual Group to Regional Australia Bank, the transition is being celebrated along with the donations.

“The events present a great opportunity to also celebrate the launch of our new brand, as the program reinforces some of the ways we assist our customers and their communities.” said Kevin Dupé, CEO, Regional Australia Bank.

“The Program continues to grow at over 30% each year as more and more people get on board.”

The last 5 years has seen the Bank contribute over $1.5 million dollars to deserving community groups and it’s not stopping there.

Over the course of two months and at 26 locations throughout regional NSW, Regional Australia Bank is presenting hundreds of community groups with their Community Partnership donations. The Cancer Council, Fairview Care, Backtrack Youth Works, Dubbo Rescue Squad and Can Assist Uralla are just a few of the 900 groups that will receive a donation.

“We are passionate about giving back to our communities and we are equally committed to empower our customers to support local community groups they feel strongly about.  That’s why we established the Community Partnership Program eight years ago.” said Kevin.

The program that started out as one single account, has now been made available to all customers so that everyone can take part in what the Bank believes is a ‘revolution in community banking’.

The Community Partnership Program works by customers opening a transaction account and selecting which group they would like to support.  Regional Australia Bank then calculates the average annual balance of all supporter’s accounts and donates 1% of the total to the cause on the customers’ behalf, all without costing them a cent.  

“Because this program is an extension of our Community Support Program it comes at no cost to our customers and it authenticates our promise to operate in the best interests of our customers and communities,” explained Kevin 

“This customer owned structure means our customers not only benefit from fairer fees, competitive interest rates and the expertise from local specialists, they know they’re benefiting Regional Australia by helping it to prosper and thrive” he said.

In addition to the Community Partnership Program, Regional Australia Bank also gives 5% of its net profits back to our community in sponsorships to local clubs, community organisations as well as contributing to regional infrastructure projects. 

“We’re immensely proud of our contribution to our communities,” Kevin said.

“After all, it’s the opportunity to make a difference, to build communities and to create better places to live that drives so many of us – so it’s fitting that our customers, who are also members of our communities, lead the way in initiatives like this one” he added. 

Regional Australia Bank is pleased to be able to continue the Community Support Program so that it can also continue to deliver social and environmental returns to regional communities at every opportunity.