A Southern Stalwart

Photo: Sam Walters (far right), John Auld and others at the Special School Awards ca. 1978

Sam Walters was a large presence in the South Australian credit union movement and a pivotal figure in the history of People First Bank. Sam was born in South Australia in 1939 and left high school before he reached Year 12, as was common at the time. In 1954 he joined E S & A (English, Scottish & Australian) Bank.

Sam worked for 18 years with the E S & A Bank (later ANZ Bank) and then AGC (Australian Guarantee Corporation), before he joined Postal Technicians (SA) Co-operative Credit Union in 1974. It later became Australian Commissions Credit Union before amalgamating in 1984 with ABC Mutual Credit Union to become Australian Central Credit Union (see Australian Central Credit Union aka People’s Choice).

He guided the Adelaide-based Australian Central Credit Union from 1974 until his retirement as Managing Director in 2000.  Under his management Australian Central became the first credit union in Australia to reach $1 billion in assets in 1999. He encouraged his staff to place a high priority on understanding members’ needs and building relationships.

In a 1988 oral history interview with Campbell Laughton (held by Australian Mutuals Archives) Sam said for credit unions the “concept is everything we do is for the member”. It is the “co-operative working for people” and the benefit of credit unions is “that they take out the profit taker in the middle”.

Sam was also on the board of Cuscosa (Credit Union Services Co-operative of South Australia), as well as serving as Chair of the Cuscal Membership Council.

In addition, Sam was appointed Chair of HomeStart Finance which was established by the South Australian government with the mission of ensuring that home ownership remains attainable for low to moderate income households in July 2001.

Sam Walters died on 11 July 2005 aged 66.