03.11.2013 Views

Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

25<br />

NZ$121 million on the previous year. 49 As a mutual building society, not a bank, SBS offers<br />

a growing range of services, including ATM and EFTPOS cards, telephone banking and<br />

cheque books. It provides finance for housing, consumers, commerce, agriculture and<br />

manufacturing, with the predominant lending activity being residential mortgage finance.<br />

The society operates seven branches in the South Island and one in Hamilton, and plans to<br />

expand further into North Island in the future.<br />

SBS is registered under the Building Societies Act 1965 and is supervised by the<br />

Tower Trust to ensure that its operates within the ratios set for it by financial covenants.<br />

Building societies are no longer mutuals. That is, they can now lend to non­members. In<br />

recent history both the United and Countrywide building societies converted to banks.<br />

Every year the SBS reviews its decision to remain a mutual rather than go for full bank<br />

status, which would give it access to wholesale money markets. Currently, it has no plans<br />

to opt for such a change.<br />

Manchester Unity<br />

The Manchester Unity is a friendly society, with two arms that advance credit to members:<br />

through the nine credit unions that are operated by the individual districts; and through<br />

any one of three levels of the friendly society where funds are available for investment.<br />

Both friendly societies and credit unions are specifically prohibited from borrowing by the<br />

Friendly Societies and Credit Unions Act 1982, except by way of normal overdraft<br />

arrangements. This therefore precludes margin lending as an activity. In addition, there<br />

are specific requirements for minimum reserve levels, which means that credit unions<br />

cannot be debt funded. There are, of course, some reserves that have been established over<br />

150 years of operation, and a portion of these may be invested by way of mortgages to<br />

members.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!