MyState Bank CEO Melos Sulicich has outlined the steps that the Tasmania-based bank are taking to help them grow into the rest of Australia.
Speaking to launch MyState’s new next generation customer software, Sulicich explained how his bank’s strategy was to expand into the mainland while maintaining their strong customer loyalty and brand recognition in their native Tasmania.
“It’s all part of the strategy,” he said. “We are the second biggest bank in Tasmania: our aspiration is to be the biggest, but being the biggest bank in Tasmania isn’t going to get us to where we need to get to.”
“We’ve got seven branches in Tasmania and distribute through them, online and through brokers. On the mainland, we have no branches. we’re a fully branchless bank and our intention is to be a challenger bank.”
“We’re effectively a neobank. We’ve converted what was a credit union in Tasmania to a national neobank. People can sign up online in real time, start using accounts and use all the pay options like Apple, Google, Garmin etc.”
MyState has already made a significant play at the broker channel. They have hired two new broker leads, both based on the mainland, as well as new BDMs in both Victoria and New South Wales.
Melos Sulicich will retire in the coming months, and his successor will be the Sydney-based CEO Brett Morgan. Chairman Miles Hampton is also bowing out, and he will be replaced by Vaughan Richtor, who is also based in New South Wales.
“Our aim is to be as customer-friendly as we possible can and upgrading our app in the way that we are doing to take it to the next generation is all about growing our customer base outside of Tasmania,” said Sulicich.
“We’re also advertising in Melbourne at the moment, and our target at the moment is to grow our customer base in that market so that we can properly be a challenger bank, a real alternative to the other banks on mainland Australia.”
“The brand that we’ve got transcends state boundaries and our customer net promoter score hovers around +40-45, which means that customers that come to us like us. This is part of giving them the sorts of opportunities that they need and are demanding.”
“If we want to grow our business, we recognise that we have to be at the forefront of this. The current system that we’ve got is fit for purpose, but is five years old and doesn’t do some of the things that we would like the new system to do.”
