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Australian Association of Permanent Building Societies
We recently received a set of 12 minute books holding the executive and committee meeting minutes of the Australian Association of Permanent Building Societies (AAPBS) from 1964-2006. This period encapsulates the entire operating history of AAPBS. In 2006, AAPBS formed ABACUS (Association for Building Societies and Credit Unions) with the Credit Union Industry Association. In 2013, ABACUS became the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA).
The first building societies operating in Australia in the 1840s were terminating building societies and resembled housing co-operatives. Terminating building societies emerged out of the self-help movement in 18th century Britain and worked by members contributing a regular sum to a common pool. When sufficient funds were collected, lots were drawn to determine which member was allocated a loan for their home. This continued until the last member had a loan and then the building society was terminated.
Thomson and Abbott (1998) note:
The terminating societies, despite their advantages, had a number of disadvantages. Members had to contribute equally and there was a long time lag before all members got their homes. It was also dif cult to withdraw from the society once committed and it was dif cult to bring in new members. To overcome these shortcomings permanent building societies were created.
Over time, permanent building societies began operating like mutual banks and today several COBA members were once building societies – Bank of us, the NGM Group, Heritage Bank, Hume Bank, IMB Bank and the Mutual Bank.
Australian Mutuals Archives began as the Australian Credit Union Historical Co-Operative 40 years ago and it has only been in the last few years that we have broadened our scope to include building societies, so this donation is an important boost to our collection.
