The Perm, the Greater, mobile phones and branch banking

The Perm and the Greater want to pool their resources but retain their brands.

COVID has done undoubted damage to sectors of the Australian economy, but the continued boom in property prices across the country has allowed the banking sector to continue making money from selling mortgages.

The 2017 banking Royal Commission, which cost the Big Four banks in both reputational damage and hefty fines to regulators, is now receding in history's rear-vision mirror.

The inquiry's legacy remains, however, with refunds and payments to customers accounting for part of some $1.3 billion in write-downs announced yesterday by Westpac ahead of its November 1 annual results.

By contrast, the Hunter's two big mutually owned deposit-taking institutions - Newcastle Permanent Building Society and Greater Bank - came through the Royal Commission with their reputations intact.

The Perm has acknowledged the need to keep moving with the times. Picture: Newcastle Permanent

All of the world's bricks and mortar banks, however, are under another form of pressure, and that's the arrival of the "fintechs" - digital lenders that threaten to do to conventional banks what ride-share did to taxis and what "pay-later" providers such as Afterpay are doing to old-style credit cards.

Newcastle Perm joined the fintech revolution last year when it linked up with digital home-loan provider Athena, a deal it announced last month it had extended.

But the biggest change for both - should it be approved by shareholders and regulators - is the planned merger of the Perm and the Greater, unveiled in August as a win for both organisations.

The Perm's annual report, made public today, describes the merger as "highly compelling".

Having signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August, the once committed rivals are now examining each other's books in the due diligence process.

The digital wallet is replacing physical cards for banking, drivers' licences and other 'smart cards' that in turn replaced paper. Picture: Greater Bank

With the Perm's latest result in the public arena, interested parties will now pore over the details of what looks like a typically strong result from the bigger of the two organisations.

The corresponding report from the Greater is six weeks away, due on November 23.

If all goes well, the members of both organisations will vote on a merger proposal next year. But backroom co-operation may only be the start of things.

Promises are being made to retain jobs and maintain branches but the industry is changing dramatically.

And COVID is only accelerating a move away from bricks and mortar.

ISSUE: 39,693

Branch banking became far less important with ATM machines. These, in turn, are under pressure as the mobile phone revolutionises personal and commercial banking along with countless other aspects of our lives. Picture: Newcastle Permanent