P&N Group (Police and Nurses Limited) and Bank Australia are talking.
The two customer-owned banks have officially begun exploring a potential merger with a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The news comes just months after P&N Group pulled the plug on its potential merger with Great Southern Bank, and as dealmaking Down Under continues to gain traction.
"Partnering with P&N Group supports our strategy and purpose to be a financial force for mutual good," said Bank Australia Chair Jennifer Dalitz. "This potential merger creates a unique opportunity to build Australia’s leading customer-owned bank with the scale to invest in better services, technology and security, while growing our ability to drive positive social and environmental impact on behalf of our customers.”
P&N Group Chair Gary Humphreys added: “This partnership brings together two strong, Australian customer-owned banks with aligned values and a shared commitment to putting customers first. We believe it creates a compelling opportunity for our customers to be part of a national organisation and one of Australia’s leading purpose-led banks. Bank Australia is a financially resilient organisation with an established brand, clear strategic direction, and a well-established track record of delivering positive outcomes for customers and communities.”
P&N Group operates as P&N Bank in Western Australia and BCU Bank in northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland. Bank Australia merged with Qudos Bank on 1 July 2025; the merged Bank Australia and Qudos entity continues to operate both retail brands.
Members won't vote on the potential merger until 2027's first half. But if plans do proceed, the combined entity will have more than $30 billion in assets and 530,000 customers.
Under the proposed plan, Dalitz will serve as inaugural chair, while Humphreys will serve as inaugural deputy chair. The merged board will include six Bank Australia and four P&N Group directors. P&N Group's Andrew Hadley will assume the role of managing director and chief executive officer, while Bank Australia's current Managing Director Damien Walsh will "explore other career options" if the merger is successful. The merged entity will be headquartered in Melbourne, with state offices in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. All existing branches across Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland will remain open immediately following the merger.
P&N's MOU with Bank Australia marks the third time the bank has explored a potential merger in recent years.
The bank discussed a potential merger with Great Southern last September. By January, the duo decided not to move forward with plans, saying in a joint statement at the time, "progressing the merger would not be in the best interests" of either bank.
P&N also tried to merge with Beyond Bank in June 2024, but the deal was scrapped the following September.
Meanwhile, M&A activity across Australia continues to pick up steam.
In 2025, global M&A deal volumes reached roughly $7.46 trillion AUD, (or $4.81 trillion USD), up from $5.27 trillion AUD, (or $3.4 trillion USD), the year before, according to MergerMarket data. That's an increase of nearly 42%. And the Australian markets, while smaller, still kept pace. Publicly-announced deals to buy or merge with companies that are based in Australia reached $143.8 billion AUD (or $92.8 billion USD), in 2025, according to Dealogic.
And the momentum isn't slowing anytime soon. So far in 2026, deals (and potential deals) have included REA Group's 70% stake in boutique commercial finance brokerage Simplicity Loans & Advisory, Australian investment manager Challenger Limited's talks to acquire a 25% share in non-bank lender Pepper Money, the potential tie-up between Teachers Mutual and Australian Mutual banks, National Australia Bank's (NAB) acquisition of fintech platform Banked, and several brokerages under the Recludo Group umbrella.
Following the latest acquisition at Recludo, Tim Brown — chief executive officer of the Australian private equity firm, which works by partnering with firms in the broking space to help them scale — told Australian Broker that higher interest rates and global uncertainty may actually be fueling momentum in the M&A market.
"That uncertainty brings people to a process where they start to think, what does the future hold for us? Is there a better way of doing this? Does Recludo offer some security in the sense of what we bring?" he explained.
