MORE than 100 years ago, Newcastle Permanent emerged in Wickham, taking its earliest form to serve a simple goal: to help people finance their home purchases. It was 1945 when what is now Greater Bank first came on the scene offering similar services to customers.
Their histories entwined on Tuesday with news the two institutions had forged an agreement to become a single leviathan of Hunter and regional banking that would boast a combined 600,000 customers and more than $19 billion in assets.
It is fitting that the merger will only proceed with approval from the two financial institutions' members, not to mention the sector's regulators. Without showing value to those it would serve, any plan for the unified venture would fall at the first hurdle.
For the lay person, banking is about security. So it appears is this deal, which leaders of both organisations were quick to point out is proposed to retain both of the brands that have become mainstays in this region.
For those dependent on branches, recent years have been unkind.
The Newcastle Permanent announced its latest in a long line of branch closures earlier this year at Medowie and Fletcher, while ATMs have disappeared from areas including Adamstown since COVID-19 changed the landscape.
Similarly, the Greater's Jesmond branch did not re-open after the pandemic forced temporary closures of several storefronts.
These are not decisions that would be made lightly at any level of either financial institution, certainly. In Tuesday's enormous news about their futures, Greater chief executive Scott Morgan put the stakes of failing to adapt to changing times plainly.
"A decade ago there were circa 200 mutuals across Australia," Mr Morgan said. "Today the number is fewer than 70."
Growing pains can likely be expected with any structural change to such established companies. It will be incumbent upon all involved to cushion the blow if any changes to branches or staffing levels are to follow the stipulated two years when forced redundancies and other changes are ostensibly off the table.
Neither company boasts an asset more valuable than their long standing in the Hunter psyche. Keeping their reputations for service and customer focus intact will be the litmus test of how successful the merger will be if it does progress past its remaining stages.
Ultimately, that's what 600,000 people are banking on.
