- Great Southern Bank and P&N Group are exploring a merger that could establish Australia's largest customer owned banking entity.
- It follows similar mergers from Heritage Bank and People's Choice, and Bank Australia and Qudos Bank.
- Officials say the merger could establish a customer owned bank with genuine national reach.
As things stand the merger would create by far the largest customer owned banking group in Australia by both assets and the size of its home loan book.
Per most recent APRA data the combined home loan books of Great Southern Bank (previously Credit Union of Australia) and P&N Group is about $24.7 billion.
That's well above the current largest customer owned entity Heritage and People's Choice Limited (now People First Bank) at just over $20 billion.
The merger won't be official until a member vote in late 2026 and regulatory approval, but a 'Memorandum of Understanding' has been established between the two entities to explore the merger and "understand the benefits" it could bring to customers.
GSB Chair Deborah O'Toole said the merger could create a "credible alternative to the major banks".
"By combining, we can invest more in digital banking and technology, improve pricing and expand our services - all while keeping people, not profits, at the centre of what we do," she said.
P&N previously explored a merger with Beyond Bank in 2024 but after a due diligence process, the former's board decided it would not be in the best interests of its members.
What are GSB and P&N?
Great Southern Bank is the business name of Credit Union Australia, a mutual bank that's been around in some iteration since 1946.
It's already one of the biggest customer-owned banks in Australia, behind only People First Bank and the Newcastle Greater Mutual group for both home loans and customer deposits.
Both of these two leaders are themselves the results of mergers in March 2023.
P&N (short for Police & Nurses limited) is itself a merger of several smaller credit unions in Western Australia including the Police & Nurses Credit Union and BCU Bank.
With Great Southern Bank predominantly focused on the east coast it means the combined entity could have a genuine national presence.
However, P&N Group Managing Director and CEO Andrew Hadley said the merger won't see P&N Group neglect its current members.
"Preserving and strengthening our unique West-Coast heritage and identity for P&N Bank customers and our local branches and rural connections for our BCU Bank customers is something we know matters a great deal to them," he said.
"Our industry is highly competitive, and given the critical investments required in digital banking, cyber security, technology, and regulation, a merger of this scale would benefit our customers and help ensure that we remain competitive and sustainable."
Read more: Customer-owned bank home loans
More mergers to come?
This is the latest in a series of mergers between customer-owned banks in Australia, including the aforementioned Heritage and People's Choice, and Bank Australia and Qudos Bank.
Given the scale that the major banks operate at (as of July 2025 Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ held nearly 74% of all outstanding home loans in Australia) it's perhaps unsurprising that smaller players are having to consolidate to compete.
Credit rating agency S&P has already released a statement saying the combination of P&N/Great Southern Bank would create an entity with "greater business stability" and predicted similar moves elsewhere to continue.
"We believe consolidation will continue as Australian mutual lenders seek to manage costs through greater economies of scale and meet increasing demands to invest in technology," S&P's note read.
Recent prominent mutual mergers
- Teachers Mutual Bank is exploring a merger with Australian Mutual Bank
- Regional Australia Bank and Summerland Bank members will vote to merge in November 2025
- Bank Australia and Qudos Bank in July 2025
- G&C Mutual with Unity Bank in March 2025
- Heritage and People's Choice in March 2023
- Newcastle Permanent and Greater Bank in March 2023
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