This year marks 60 years of Southern Cross Credit Union, and we want everyone to know about it!
For six decades, we have continued to evolve with our customers, supporting them through every stage of their financial lives the ups, the downs, and everything in between. We have helped them save for their first car, buy their first home, build new businesses and grow their investments, while also standing beside them through challenging times, natural disasters and economic crises.
As a small, customer-owned financial institution, our resilience and adaptability have kept us relevant across those 60 years. If someone had told us back in 1966 what was ahead including the extraordinary technological change that would reshape banking. We might have said, “you are dreaming”! And yet, 60 years later, here we are, celebrating the beautiful journey we have built together with our customers.
So, where did it all begin? That story starts in the Northern Rivers, with banana farmers.
In 1966, a group of banana growers came together with a shared need. Easier access to fair finance. They listened to each other, pooled their resources and laid the foundations for what would later become SCCU.
And so it began a community of people helping each other with their financial needs. Some may remember that, in those early days, joining meant purchasing shares. Five of them, to be exact, at $2 each. Since then, times have changed in many ways.
For instance, Joan Fleming, an early SCCU employee in Murwillumbah, recalls the complexity of cashing a cheque in 1971. “We had to have 3 signatories on the cheques. 2 had to be Directors signatures. I had to walk up to the Murwillumbah Ambulance Station and get Graham Carlill to sign some cheques and then I had to get Stan Stoddart’s signature, who worked in a shed near where the swimming pool is.”
Beyond the vast industry and technological changes that have shaped our evolution from those early days, one thing has always remained the same, being a community-minded, customer-centric alternative to banking.
Starting out in the back of the Banana Federation shop, the Credit Union ethos gained steady momentum and, by the 1990s, we had opened 10 branches across the Northern Rivers, from Ballina up to Tweed. Today, these are known as our Financial Service Centres.
As we expanded, more people came through our doors from different starting points but often looking for the same thing. A caring, personalised and ethical approach to banking services.
Kevin and Colleen are a great example. Loyal customers for 34 years, they first came to us after becoming frustrated with their previous bank. They were initially looking for a loan, but they were also experiencing financial challenges. Travis Jones, the Tweed Manager at the time, listened to them and took it upon himself to teach them how to save, rather than immediately approving a loan that may have placed them under further pressure. Sure enough, a year later they were in a much stronger position and received their first loan with us to buy a car. Since then, they have become regular customers with multiple products, including a home loan they fully paid off before retiring — something Travis made sure to personally congratulate them for.
Experiences like these are the backbone of our customer-centric focus. They are reflected across every part of our business. Our products, our service and our overall philosophy. Fast forward to today, and we now support the banking needs of more than 20,000 customers across Australia while continuing to contribute to our local economy and community.
More than steady growth, these 60 years have given us a broader sense of what is possible.
We have moved from a small office at the back of a store to a network supporting tens of thousands of customers.
We have moved from walking across town for signatures to helping customers bank the way they want, with real-time digital banking now a major part of everyday banking needs.
We have grown from a small group solving a shared need to a diverse customer base with different financial goals.
Each stage has added to who we are today and will continue to shape our future.
The idea that brought SCCU to life continues to guide us. Banking designed around the people who use it, and evolving with them over time. Here’s to 60 years of being your trusted banking partner, and to the next 60 years of evolving even more with you. Hip hip hooray!
