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Alongside our commitment to local sport, The Mutual Bank has partnered with high profile professional rugby league players Hannah and Jesse Southwell. The Southwell sisters, born and raised in the Hunter, who played their junior rugby league with the Kotara Bears, are both contracted to the Newcastle Knights for the next five years. Hannah is a NSW and Australian rugby league representative and has also represented Australia in rugby sevens as well as playing elite-level soccer. Jesse collected a Commonwealth Games gold medal in rugby sevens before switching codes to rugby league and was named the NRLW Rookie of the Year in 2022. Chief Member Officer Matthew Dunnill said the partnership with the Southwell siblings is in addition to our earlier announcement of a partnership with Newcastle Knights player Sheridan Gallagher and aims to contribute to the momentum of raising the profile of women’s sport. “The Hunter really got behind The Matilda’s during their FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign and that was tremendous to see,” he said. “Women’s rugby league is an emerging sport with increasing participation and profile, and the back-to back premiership wins by the Newcastle Knights Women has certainly lifted the profile even more.” The Mutual Bank will run a campaign featuring some of the homegrown talent that we support, from grassroots clubs to stars, in sports from netball to triathlon and various codes of football. As a member-owned bank, our profits don’t go into the pockets of shareholders, but rather are invested back into better products and services and sponsorship of community organisations and initiatives. “We are excited to be supporting through sponsorship, the Maitland Pickers Rugby League Club’s first women’s team in the Newcastle Rugby league competition,” said Matthew. “That’s alongside our long-standing sponsorship of Maitland and District Netball Association and sponsorship of Maitland Touch Football Association, Maitland Triathlon Club and Maitland Football Club.” Keep an eye on our social media channels to see more of Hannah, Jesse and Sheridan along with the local community organisations backed by The Mutual Bank.

The Mutual Bank is proud to be a part of a new Scam-Safe Accord aimed at delivering a higher standard of protection for our Members and help put scammers out of business in Australia. The Scam-Safe Accord, between Australia’s customer owned banks, mutual banks, building societies, credit unions and commercial banks is a comprehensive set of anti-scam measures across the entire industry. Announcing the Accord today, Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh said the new offensive in the war on scams reflects the banking sector’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding every Australian. At the heart of the Scam-Safe Accord is a $100 million investment by the industry in a new confirmation of payee system to be rolled out across all Australian banks. Confirmation of payee will help reduce scams by ensuring people can confirm they are transferring money to the person they intend to. Read more about the Scam-Safe Accord and what it will mean for our Members here. The Mutual Bank is a member of the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA), the industry association for Australia’s customer-owned banks whose vision is for more Australians to benefit from a resilient banking sector that is centred on people and communities.