Money
Issue No. 27 - February/March
Elders Rural Bank wins bush backing
by Max Franchitto
Bob Jones is the CEO of Elders Rural Bank, a joint venture between Bendigo Bank Limited and Futuris Corporation Limited, the parent company of Elders Ltd.
ERB was granted a banking authority in 2000 and its products and services are currently offered though a network of over 500 Elders, Bendigo Bank and Community Bank branches nationally. Every cent invested in ERB is re-invested into rural Australia.
Bob was interviewed by ‘in-business’ Top 100 moderator, Max Franchitto.
Highlight the company's successes in 2005
The farming community survived one of the worst droughts in over 100 years. Post June-July the rains showed promise for an improvement and indeed cattle prices began to rise again. ERB was patient with its customers and waited out the drought. Its 250 Elders branches in rural Australia and its 3,000 people on the ground give it a unique empathy with its customer base.
Since inception five years ago the bank has enjoyed exceptional growth, this continued in 2005 with an after-tax profit for 2004-05 of $27.4 million. This, coupled with a customer growth of about 13% to 47,000 is proof that this bank has the favour of its customer base. From a starting point of $700 million in assets and $300 million in retail funds ERB now has assets in excess of $2.6billion and retail funds to match.
Loans under management as at 30 June were $2.34 billion compared to $1.86 billion at the close of the previous financial year. Deposits at 30 June were $2.32 billion , 26% higher than the previous year.
The achivement of an investment-grade credit rating was among the bank’s highlights for the year. The rating assigned by Standard & Poors in October 2004 has led to a broader, more diverse funding base.
With a short history of five years the Bank has been averaging a growth rate of 25% per annum.
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