Student banking clarification

Following reports in News Limited newspapers on Sunday, 12 May 2019 about our engagement with students and student banking, we would like to clarify our position on the matter.

We take our role of improving financial literacy for everyone, including students, very seriously. We remain committed to continuing to administer services to schools in line with expected conduct and standards. Any claim that suggests otherwise misrepresents our promise to the community, as does inappropriate comparisons to the cigarette industry. We want to be judged by the work we do and not by the conduct of others. We believe we have an important responsibility to improve society and we take this responsibility very seriously. Our purpose is to feed into community prosperity, not off it and our engagement with the education sector strictly follows this philosophy. There has been increasing discussion across society about the importance of business playing a role in community and operating a business model with purpose and these are the very foundations our Bank has been built on.

In all Australian states and territories, other than Queensland, Bendigo Bank offers a student banking program at individual branch level at the discretion of the branch manager. In Queensland, Bendigo Bank is one of two financial institutions with State Government accreditation to provide student banking programs in Queensland schools.

The Bank provides banking services and accounts specifically designed for students. In addition, our Community Banks have relationships with many schools across Australia.

Increasingly in many rural, regional and outer suburban areas, Bendigo Bank is the only bank remaining with a physical presence to provide on the ground services. This effectively means that if parents wish to open a bank account for their children in these locations, a Bendigo Community Bank® branch will be the only local bank available.

Local Community Bank® branches have funded many hundreds of projects and scholarships in local schools across Australia. Over the last 20 years, in excess of $200 million has been returned to local communities through grants, sponsorships and investments directly made by our Community Bank® network. Last year, this included more than $3.2 million returned to Australian communities for Educational and Research initiatives.

You can view our school funding programs here
Click on the ‘Education’ category in the drop-down menu
Click on the ‘State’ you wish to search