Who owns each Australian bank?

Do you know who owns your bank? Several smaller banks are actually owned by bigger banks, meaning you could be banking with one of the big four without realising it.

Here’s what banks the big four own, plus what some other banks own.

What banks are owned by the big four banks?

The Australian banking sector is dominated by the big four banks – Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ. They account for close to 74% of home loans in Australia by value, according to figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) for February 2023.

Their power in the market is even greater when you consider the smaller banks that they own.

Which banks are owned by CommBank?

• Bankwest.
• 45% stake in Colonial First State
• 45% stake in Lendi Group (a merger between Lendi and Aussie Home Loans).

Which banks are owned by Westpac?

• St.George
• Bank of Melbourne
• BankSA
• RAMS
• wealth management brand BT.

Which banks are owned by NAB?

• UBank.

Which banks are owned by ANZ?

• Proposing to purchase the banking arm of Suncorp, which has yet to receive regulatory approval.

What about other banks?

Who owns Bendigo Bank?

Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank are owned by the company Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which was formed by the merger of the two banks in 2007. The company also owns Rural Bank, Community Bank, Up, Delphi Bank and Alliance Bank.

Which banks are owned by BOQ?

Bank of Queensland (BOQ) owns Virgin Money Australia and ME. It also owns BOQ Specialist which provides specialist banking services to niche market segments including medical, dental, veterinary and accounting professionals.

If you’re curious about the ownership of another bank, a good way to check this is to read the bank’s About Us or History page.

Does it matter if my bank is owned by another bank?

In general, one bank being owned by another will not impact your day-to-day banking.

The main potential issue is with the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS).

APRA states the FCS protects deposits of up to $250,000 per account holder for each licensed authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI). This may present an issue if there are multiple banking businesses under the one licence.

For example, Bankwest and Commonwealth Bank have the same banking licence and Westpac, St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne have the same licence.

So if you had $200,000 in a Westpac account and $200,000 in a St.George account, only $250,000 in total would be covered by the scheme.

Banking businesses under one banking licence

To find out whether your deposits will be covered, you can check APRA’s  list of authorised deposit-taking institutions.

This list includes ADIs and their different trading names.

At the time of writing, APRA notes that the following ADIs operate multiple banking businesses under the one banking licence:

Australian Military Bank Ltd

• RSL Money

Auswide Bank Ltd

• Queensland Professional Credit Union Ltd

Bank of Queensland Limited

• BOQ Specialist (BOQS)
• ME Bank

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited

• Adelaide Bank
• Alliance Bank
• AWA Alliance Bank
• BDCU Alliance Bank
• Bendigo Bank
• Circle Alliance Bank
• Community Sector Banking
• Delphi Bank
• Nova Alliance Bank
• Rural Bank
• Service One Alliance Bank

Beyond Bank Australia

• Nexus Mutual

BNK Banking Corporation Limited

• Goldfields Money

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

• Bankwest

Community First Credit Union Limited

• Community First Bank
• Easy Street Bank
• Easy Street Financial Services

Family First Credit Union Limited

• Family First Bank

Heritage and People’s Choice Limited

• Heritage Bank
• People’s Choice Credit Union

IMB Ltd (trading as IMB Bank)

• The Shire

National Australia Bank Limited

• UBank

Newcastle Greater Mutual Group Ltd

• Newcastle Permanent
• Greater Bank

Warwick Credit Union

• Dalby Credit Union
• Gympie Credit Union

WAW Credit Union Co-operative LImited

• BankWAW

Westpac Banking Corporation

• Bank of Melbourne
• BankSA
• St.George Bank

Source: APRA, last checked 24 April, 2023.

Note that in some cases, a bank may hold its own ADI licence in addition to that of its parent company. For example, ME (owned by BOQ) holds its own ADI licence, which was obtained before being acquired by its current owner.

Cover image source: Nils Versemann/Shutterstock.com