POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
(February-2004) Members Equity thinks inside the box
Members Equity (ME) has launched a multi-million dollar television campaign aimed at winning more industry superannuation fund members to use its products.
The independent bank has attracted 100,000 customers from the potential 5 million members that are in industry superannuation funds or a union.
ME chief executive officer Anthony Warmsteker says the bank is looking at 30 to 40 per cent growth in its business this year.
“We want to lift brand awareness to achieve greater scale in our operations,” he says.
“We also need to position ME as a bank that is secure and here for the long term.”
The bank has $10 billion of assets generated from home loans, saving products and a credit card.
Warmsteker says the majority of that money comes from home loans, which have the average account balance of $100,000.
“Home loans are a long-serving product for us, whereas savings products are new and the balances are much lower,” he says.
ME chairman Bernie Fraser says the advertising campaign is aimed particularly at industry superannuation fund members who have a loan with the bank but use its rivals for products such as credit cards.
“The campaign is designed to make people think about moving accounts to ME,” he says.
“We have proven that we can deliver better service through sustained performance.”
Warmsteker says an increase in new customers will result in the bank hiring more staff to maintain service levels, but it won’t affect profitability.
“We have budgeted for overheads to rise, but it won’t be at the same rate of customer growth,” he says.
“It is about achieving scale.”
ME undertakes a small amount of business lending, mainly to small companies that use an industry superannuation fund. Warmsteker says they want to expand this area of business in the future.
The new TV campaign starts immediately on Channels 7 and 10 and will include ME’s new branding “The Super Funds Bank”.
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