Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (trading as Bendigo Bank), is an Australian financial institution, operating primarily in retail banking. The company was formed by the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007.
Prior to the merger, Bendigo Bank operated nearly 900 outlets across Australia, including over 160 company-owned branches, 220 community-owned Community Bank branches, 100 agencies, and 400 Elders outlets. The bank's branches were mainly located in Victoria and Queensland. Post-merger, the combined bank operates more than 400 branches, including 25 that were part of Adelaide Bank.
The bank's national headquarters are in Bendigo, Victoria with a major office in Adelaide, South Australia and regional offices in Docklands, Melbourne and Ipswich, Queensland.
History and development
The company started in 1858 as a fixed-term (terminating) building society to improve conditions in the Bendigo goldfields during the Victorian gold rush. At seven years old, in 1865, the company restructured, taking the name Bendigo Mutual Permanent Land and Building Society, which incorporated in Victoria 11 years afterwards. It continued to expand its holdings when, in 1978, it merged with Bendigo and Eaglehawk Star, a building society established in 1901.
Further growth involved the acquisition of the building societies Sandhurst, in 1983, and Sunraysia, in 1985, a merger with Sandhurst Trustees Ltd and the acquisition of Capital and Compass building societies.