Teachers Mutual Bank and Australian Mutual Bank are sealing the deal on their relationship.
Members of the two mutual banks voted in favor of the proposed merger, which was first announced in December 2024 by way of a memorandum of understanding, paving the way for the creation of one of the country’s largest mutual banks as consolidation accelerates across Australia’s increasingly heated M&A landscape.
The combined entity — which will be called Teachers Mutual Bank Limited — will have total assets of approximately $14.2 billion, with more than 280,000 members and 750 employees, including Teachers Mutual's current Chief Executive Officer Anthony Hughes at the helm of the business. Andrew Kearnan will serve as chair of the merged bank.
"Our strategic intent is to create an even stronger, more resilient, future-ready bank that’s 100% owned by its members," Kearnan said. "And it's fantastic to see such strong support across our membership as we take this important step forward.
"Combining our two trusted and financially strong banks means we can deliver more for our members over the long term while bringing banking for good to more Australians," he continued.
Hughes added: "By bringing our banks together, we will have greater capacity to invest in what matters most to members. With member approval now secured, our focus turns to bringing the best of both banks together for the benefit of members over the coming months.”
In a statement, the mutual banks confirmed that members "voted strong in favour of the merger, well above the 75% approval rate." The two mutuals will become one entity on 1 May 2026, pending regulatory approval.
Australian Mutual Bank Chief Executive Officer Mark Worthington "will step down in line with the agreed transition plan when the two banks come together," a representative from Teachers Mutual told Australian Broker. The merged corporate entity will be Teachers Mutual Bank Limited and the retail brands Australian Mutual Bank, Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank and UniBank, all operating alongside each other.
Executives from both Teachers Mutual and Australian Mutual first endorsed the deal as early as 2025.
Worthington said in a January blog post: "The proposed merger is a proactive and strategic choice. The increased scale of the merged bank will enable us to enhance the quality, convenience and value of our products and services."
Hughes said earlier this year, at an event attended by Australian Broker, "there's no forced redundancies and there should be broader career opportunities over time."
He added that members will benefit from the merger as well with lower fees, a broader range of products and expanded access to physical branches.
"We're broadening out the product set," Hughes said. "We're doing things like green loans, green car loans. We're going to have multiple offsets on mortgages, and some new features in our mobile app and internet banking."
In addition, by way of the merger, members of both banks will have access to 13 branch locations — six existing Australian Mutual locations and seven existing Teachers Mutual branches — across New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Western Australia.
