Developing One of the World’s Most Ethical and Successful Banks

OVERVIEW

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited is one of the largest mutual banks in Australia, founded in 1966. Today they have over 230,000 members, more than $10B in assets and 600 employees. It became Teachers Mutual Bank Limited in 2012, building on 47 years of success as a mutual financial institution, Teachers Credit Union.

OBJECTIVES

• Build positive beliefs and attitudes about selling
• Get staff engaged in selling
• Remove barriers to growth by developing a sales culture
• Retain their member/customer focus while transitioning to a sales culture

CHALLENGES

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited recognized that the staff’s attitudes and beliefs towards selling were changing and evolving. The organization realized that leadership needed to reinforce a positive, value-adding role around the sales function, whilst ensuring it retained a strong member service. At the same time, the organization didn’t want to lose its strong member focus.

SOLUTIONS

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited initially implemented Integrity Solutions’ program The Member Advantage™ as a sales program called “SalesSmart” to help change attitudes about selling and create a sales-oriented culture. This program was ideally suited to the organization’s objectives because it’s designed for credit unions and has a strong member-needs focus. By the time the credit union became Teachers Mutual Bank Limited, a healthy sales culture was in place, and the organization then transitioned to the bank-specific Integrity Selling® for Banking program. Today, every new Teachers Mutual Bank Limited employee participates in the course upon hire. Teachers Mutual Bank Limited has also implemented Integrity Coaching® leadership training and has created an organizational leadership coach role to provide support for the coaching culture throughout the organization. 

By the time Teachers Credit Union became Teachers Mutual Bank Limited, it had already transformed into a sales-oriented culture through the use of SalesSmart/The Member Advantage™. As a result, staff members now believe they are adding member value by sharing the products and services the bank can provide.

IMPACT

SalesSmart/The Member Advantage™ was the first step in changing the culture and provided a platform to build on. According to Teachers Mutual Bank Limited leaders, other management and HR initiatives could not have been implemented successfully without the shift in culture and beliefs around selling. There is a strong emphasis on values, and each staff member is made aware of what the values are, what they mean and how to practice them, recognizing that this is a crucial point of difference. 

Among other results, the organization recorded a 20% increase in insurance sales the first year of implementing SalesSmart. Insurance sales have increased every year since. Home loans and internet banking usage have also increased, as has per-member take-up (e.g., from 2 to 5 products). Customer satisfaction scores (measured by Canstar Blue) improved to a rating of 1 after only one year of implementing coaching with the Contact Center teams. And according to Roy Morgan Research, Teachers Mutual Bank Limited led customer service rates across the top 15 consumer banks in Australia for the first six months of 2017. 

In 2023 Teachers Mutual Bank Limited was recognized by Ethisphere Institute as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 10th year in a row. It is only one of four banks globally to receive this recognition, and the only company in Australia.

Results

In 2023 Teachers Mutual Bank Limited was recognized by Ethisphere Institute as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 10th year in a row. It is only one of four banks globally to receive this recognition, and the only company in Australia

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Increase in home loans, internet banking usage and per-member take-up

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