A message of thanks from Community Bank Seddon Chair, Sarah Franklyn
Cast your mind back 15 years if you can and realise that our inner west community was quite a different place. The bustling Seddon and Yarraville villages had quite a different profile.
What was much more common across the retail landscape were bank branches because we were an economy that relied much more on cash, ATMs and cheques.
In fact, traders in Seddon felt the lack of an ATM in their shopping strip was costing them business. So started a push to add an ATM to John Westbury’s front window in Victoria Street, Seddon.
However, when John and a number of other business owners started to investigate further, they learned about an Australian-born phenomenon; Community Banks that were community-led franchises of Bendigo Bank.
At the time across metro and regional Victoria and in pockets of other states, communities were coming together to purchase a franchise and Community Bank branch numbers swelled to over 300.
As soon as a Community Bank became profitable, they started investing the money back into their community in the form of sponsorship and grants for local sporting clubs and community organisations.
Fast forward to 2024, Community Banks celebrated their 25th anniversary last year and still serve around 300 communities across Australia, directly invested over $320 million to help build community resilience.
In our own inner west community, I am proud to say we have just announced $3 million that has supported our community organisations, sporting clubs, events and people in our 15 years.
Our bank branch in Seddon provides a full range of banking services to thousands of customers in our community who care about doing business with businesses that do good.
We employ local people, and our board is made up of locals who volunteer their time to connect with and support over 200 organisations.
The journey has been one of immense pride for all of us involved as we have focused our support and investments around young people, creating employment opportunities, sustainability, the financially and socially disadvantaged and the people and places that make the inner west the jewel of Melbourne.
Reflecting on 15 years of Community Bank Seddon; there are some important milestones that we are proud to acknowledge:
- Moving from a virtual branch in the back of the Bendigo Bank in Footscray to our home in Charles St
- Recently acknowledging the 15 year anniversary of staff Teena Brown and Esha Shrestha who have been with us since the beginning
- Providing a regular return for our shareholders; those pioneers that helped us create this successful community enterprise
- Inner West Community Enterprises, which is the business that holds the Franchise Agreement for Community Bank Seddon, becoming a certified Social Enterprise
- Supporting The Westsider when it was at risk to become the powerhouse it is today and part of our community’s fabric
- Being part of The Community Bike Hub to not only help our community become more sustainable but also support Year 9 students at Footscray High School to learn valuable mechanical and life skills
- Helping thousands of children play sport, connect at cultural events and improve their financial literacy
- Partner with dozens of organisations that make our community a better place to live for those struggling from West Welcome Wagon to Reaching Out in the Inner West of Melbourne
Perhaps the two standouts though are that as a successful, profitable Community Bank we can use the profits from helping our customers with their financial needs to make our community a better place for everyone and the reality of the impact of what the $3 million has done for our community.
As we celebrate our 15 years, I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has helped us to reach this milestone. From the original visionary steering committee, all our staff and board members through the journey, our shareholders, our customers and most importantly this community that has afforded us the privilege of sharing your needs and challenges and letting us do what we can to make this a more resilient community; together.
