I am delighted to announce that it has been another strong year for us as an organisation, with a growth in loans of $40 million. Overall our assets grew from $689 million to $748 million over the last financial year. This growth is despite the substantial challenges and changes in the market.

Other successes of note include our newly renovated branches in Bangalow and Evans Head, mobile app upgrade, and becoming the first financial institution in NSW to be recognised as a Gold Partner of the NSW Government’s Department of Environment and Heritage’s Sustainability Advantage Program.

Having been closely involved in Summerland’s sustainability journey, since it began in 2008, environmental sustainability is a passion I have championed, as a Director and now Chair. The 11-year process that contributed to achieving Gold Partner status involved embedding systems across the whole organisation, such as building our sustainability commitment into staff induction and regular training; using products and materials for building upgrades and internal use that have minimal environmental impact, are recycled, or have been sustainably sourced; reporting and tracking our resource use; and supporting our local community through staff volunteering and grant opportunities. The recognition illustrates our sustainable and environmental practices and reflects our staff’s ongoing commitment to one of our core values.

In a year of change, we explored a potential merger with Coastline Credit Union and the benefits a merger between the two credit unions could provide to our respective members. After a thorough due diligence process and following numerous discussions between the respective Boards and Management of the credit unions, the Summerland Board reached a decision not to proceed with the merger as it was not in the best interests of Summerland, our staff or members at that time.

The reforms following the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry have had a major impact on the whole industry, resulting in new conditions such as the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR). In response, Summerland has improved our risk management practices, developed new processes to understand our culture and registered our accountable persons (Board and Executive) as required by the BEAR.

The Customer Owner Banking Association (COBA) Chief Executive, Michael Lawrence has emphasised how the final report focuses on major bank practices; and is not indicative of the customer owned financial institutions or the industry as a whole. As a customer owned financial institution, we are in a position of strength. Our values, ethics and adherence to regulations ensures we will continue to act in the best interests of our members who are the owners of Summerland.

The Board has for some time been looking at renewal and succession planning for the future, which has involved a competitive recruitment process. With this in mind, there have been changes that I would like to acknowledge.

This year we have said goodbye to CEO, Margot Sweeny, who stepped down after 20 years as CEO and 5 years prior to that as a Summerland Director. Margot oversaw the organisation grow from $99 million to just under $750 million in assets during her time.

I have been fortunate to work with Margot for the last 15 years. She has been a significant mentor in my career and I have benefited from her commercial insight and how to apply this to the not-for-profit sector. It is important to recognise Margot’s role in the finance industry as a strong female leader, increasing the representation of women in leadership and governance roles in the industry.

With Margot’s departure, I would like to welcome our new CEO, John Williams. John has a long history in the customer owned banking sector, with 20 years of senior leadership roles at Heritage Bank and more recent experience in the fintech and neo banking environments. His highly developed technical and commercial skills are complemented by a strong commitment to developing and coaching his staff to maximise career development and organisational culture and performance. John’s capabilities include strategy development, implementation, business transformation, portfolio and project management.

I’m sure you will join myself, the Board, the Executive team and our staff in offering our sincere thanks and appreciation to Margot for her contribution to Summerland and a warm welcome to John.

At the Board level, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nicolas Harrison for his stewardship as Chairman for the past 10 years. He has overseen some major changes during his time, and we are fortunate that he will remain as a Director to offer his expertise and knowledge in helping direct Summerland’s future. Nick’s constant presence on the board of COBA cannot be underestimated and he is highly valued as a voice and advocate for Summerland and keeping the Board updated on COBA’s activities.

This year sees Director, John Shanahan step down after 11 years - John has also been Chair of the Credit Union’s Board Audit and Risk Committee during this time. Some of you may not be aware, but John was formerly Deputy Chancellor of Southern Cross University and an Audit Partner at Deloitte. He is a recognised expert on financial reporting issues and the author of the textbooks Guide to Accounting Standards and Guide to Accounting Regulation. He has also conducted training courses and seminars for many national and state organisations including ASIC, the ASX, CPA Australia, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, FINSIA and the Federal Judicial Commission. We thank John for all that he has done for Summerland and the financial industry and wish him well in his future endeavours.

I would like to welcome our newest Director, Julie Osborne, who joined us in May this year. Julie has extensive experience across a range of sectors including financial services, insurance and not-for-profit organisations; having previously worked with both Westpac and KPMG. Her experience and knowledge will be invaluable in the coming months and years ahead.

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the year of change we have had. We work in a constantly changing industry, so I’d like to thank my fellow Directors, our outgoing CEO Margot, our Executive team, with a particular thank you to Sally-Anne Cumine who stood in as Acting CEO during the CEO recruitment process and was instrumental in our merger discussions with Coastline Credit Union, and our staff for adapting to the changes we continue to face, in what has been a challenging year.
I would like to assure our members that Summerland continues to perform strongly as this year’s financial results illustrate, and remains committed to meeting your financial needs in a constantly changing environment

Katrina Luckie
Chair

Gender Equality

Our staff work tirelessly to ensure that we provide a strong and united culture here at Summerland where employees and others in the workplace are treated fairly, with respect, and are free from discrimination, harassment, vilification and victimisation.

Decent Work & Economic Growth

In the last year, we have seen unprecedented changes in the industry, and this has consequently brought its own tests. Last financial year we saw strong growth in our loans’ portfolio ($40 m) and assets ($59m). These results are illustrative of the strong reputation of Summerland within the region and the quality of our staff and their ability to put our members first.

With our staff, we believe in empowering them by providing suitable learning and development opportunities to further their careers. This year we upskilled a number of our staff across the organisation in lending through our Learning and Development Department and have also recruited for management roles internally. This organic advancement of our staff is what breeds a positive and united culture here at Summerland and one which our Board and Executive are proud to support.

Last financial year, we invested in our communities in Evans Head and Bangalow, renovating the branches in those towns to be in line with the new modern styling we have incorporated across our branch network. The staff in those branches like the new look and we hope you, our members, enjoy the better member experience, through the open plan design, sustainable materials used and state-of-the-art technology on offer

Sustainable Cities & Communities

As a member owned financial institution, every year we give back a proportion of our profits to the community. Last financial year we returned $1.06m to the community through direct and indirect support to some of the sponsored groups and events highlighted:

Climate Action

In the next 12 months Summerland will be embarking on a long-term project to assess the effect of climate change. To commence this project, we will be working with an environmental consultant to develop a database that assesses the effect of climate change on the North Coast of NSW and then overlay our mortgage book to identify future risks. This information will provide data which will assist us make decisions in the future regarding lending policy.

power

There was a 7% decrease in energy consumption of Summerland owned and leased premises this year, with 4,550 kWh consumed per FTE.

Accredited renewable energy take-up in electricity contracts is currently 10% pa for head office and 25% pa for branches.

paper

Internal paper usage for the 2018/19 year was 4,868 sheets of normal copy paper per FTE. This is a 29.60% drop on the previous year.

Improving the environmental impact of the paper we purchase and use in our marketing collateral and member communications, 100% of A4 copy paper and customer statement paper is certified carbon neutral under the National Carbon Offset Standard Carbon Neutral program.

vehicles

The corporate vehicle fleet used 8,272 litres of fuel, 94 litres per FTE. This is a 21.95% reduction on the previous year.

Utilising video or teleconferencing forms part of the assessment when making staff travel decisions.

air travel

Business travel by air in 2018/19 consisted of flights covering 116,223 kms, which equated to 1,319 km per FTE.

This is a 28% increase on the previous year.