The Australian Association of Permanent Building Societies (AAPBS) was the peak body for Australia's permanent building societies. 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.

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. 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).

Our AAPBS collection includes the books holding the executive and committee meeting minutes for the entire existence of the organisation. We also hold records from the NSW Permanent Building Societies Association from the 1970s.