Sue Corcoran-pictured with the steering committee from the Canowindra District Community Bank. Bill Paul, Sue Corcoran, Cheryl Newsom, Craig Peters, Anthony D’Onise, Michael Payton, Richard Statham, Tony Dunn, Eugene Marais and Herb Gardner.
On Thursday 24th July Sue Corcoran, Chairperson of Boorowa Community Bank, gave an interesting presentation at Finns Store about how their bank was formed and what the benefits have been to the community of Boorowa. Their bank opened in May 2001 and has been an essential contributor to sporting clubs, associations and not for profit organisations in the town with approximately $200,000 each year being allocated.
In addition, the Bank currently pays a dividend of 15c fully franked to the shareholders. Sue said, “it enables you to have a relationship with your manager, not just be a number in the system. In addition, it currently employs around 8 people in the town and enables all retailers to be able to go down the street and collect their $2 coins or small change.”
Sue went on to say, “the reason that they started their bank was that the local Westpac Branch closed and at that time they received many presentations from other community banking models and credit unions however they unanimously decided that they would adopt the Bendigo Bank model. The Bendigo Bank support team has been great and they are our go to people whenever we have a question which we cannot answer.”