St.George Bank
St.George Bank is an Australian bank based in Sydney. It began in 1937 as the St.George Co‑operative Building Society and grew into a major banking group. Over the years it merged with other building societies and banks, became a full bank in 1992, and later became part of Westpac.
Today, St.George operates mainly in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, but its reach has expanded to Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia, and the Northern Territory through brands like BankSA and related Westpac operations. Some back‑office work is done in Bangalore, India, and the bank runs a large network of branches and ATMs across Australia.
What it does: St.George provides retail and business banking plus specialist services, including commercial lending, invoice financing, foreign exchange, trade finance, and automotive finance. In some markets these services sit under other Westpac brands such as RAMS and the relaunched Bank of Melbourne.
Key moments in its history: The St.George and Cronulla Building Societies merged in 1945, expanding rapidly in the post‑war era. It gained a banking licence in 1992 and demutualised to become a public company. Over the years it acquired assets from Barclays and other institutions, and in 1997 it absorbed Advance Bank, which continued to operate as BankSA in South Australia. By 2006 St.George was performing strongly, and in 2008 it merged with Westpac in an all‑stock deal worth about A$18.6 billion, with St.George and BankSA becoming part of Westpac on 1 December 2008.
Relaunch and recent branding: In Victoria, the Bank of Melbourne was relaunched in 2011 and eventually replaced the St.George brand there. Since the merger, St.George has operated as part of a multibrand strategy under Westpac, with leadership changes including Rob Chapman taking the helm of the St.George Banking Group.
Market positioning: St.George has promoted itself as friendly and customer‑focused, but surveys over the years have shown mixed results about customer satisfaction compared with the major banks. The group today offers a wide range of financial services to individuals, businesses, and specialised markets.
Offshore moves: The bank moved some back‑office functions to India starting in 2007, including card and loan services, with hundreds of jobs shifted over time. In later years, some of these roles were brought back to Australia as part of a shift away from offshore processing.
Headquarters and presence: In 2016, St.George’s headquarters moved to Tower 2 in the International Towers complex in Barangaroo, Sydney.
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 22:43 (CET).