Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited is an Australian banking group headquartered in Bendigo, Victoria. Formed through the 2007 merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank, it provides banking and related financial services through brands including Bendigo Bank and Up. The company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as BEN and is regulated as an authorised deposit-taking institution.^[1][2][3]

History and formation

The merged group brought together two established Australian banking businesses. In 2007, Bendigo Bank proposed acquiring Adelaide Bank through schemes of arrangement. The merger scheme book described a plan to combine the businesses while retaining and developing their existing operations. The transaction resulted in the company adopting the name Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited.^[1]

Bendigo Bank’s history is connected to the development of banking in regional Victoria. Over time, the bank expanded beyond its original regional base through branch growth, acquisitions and partnerships. Its Community Bank model, developed in response to changes in the banking environment in the late 1990s, became a distinctive part of its approach to serving regional and other local communities.^[4] The model links the bank with locally established Community Bank companies. These companies operate in partnership with the bank but are not wholly owned or controlled by it; the bank’s 2026 reporting notes that it does not govern their decision-making.^[5]

The 2007 combination gave the group a broader business base and a name reflecting both predecessor institutions. Subsequent business changes have included technology consolidation, brand rationalisation and the development of digital banking. In December 2025 the bank completed the final phase of a multi-year core banking consolidation, migrating Adelaide Bank customer accounts to the Bendigo Bank platform, according to its FY2026 results announcement.^[6]

Business and services

The bank serves personal, business and community customers. Its banking activities include taking deposits and providing lending, including residential mortgages and business and agribusiness finance. It also offers payment, transaction and savings services through physical and digital channels. The exact range of products, brands and distribution arrangements can change over time; its annual reports and product disclosures provide the authoritative detail for a given reporting period.^[5][7]

Bendigo Bank is the group’s principal customer-facing banking brand. Up is its digital banking brand, developed in partnership with fintech company Ferocia. The partners launched Up in 2018 as a mobile-only digital banking platform. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank announced in 2021 that it would acquire Ferocia, bringing its digital product and technology capability into the group.^[8] In FY2026, the bank reported introducing customer onboarding through the Bendigo Bank app and completing the rollout of its lending platform to all branches. The bank said almost half of digitally eligible new customers joined through the app and around 80% of home loans were written through the lending platform.^[6]

The Community Bank arrangement differs from a conventional company-owned branch network. Local Community Bank companies partner with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to provide banking services in their areas. The bank supplies products and infrastructure, while local partners participate in the arrangement under contractual terms. Because these community companies are separate and not controlled subsidiaries, the group distinguishes them from its own wholly owned and controlled entities in annual reporting.^[5] This structure has allowed the bank to maintain a local presence in places where banking services may otherwise be limited, while keeping the bank’s centralised operational and prudential responsibilities distinct from local company governance.

The group has also operated or partnered in adjacent financial services, including wealth-related activities. The businesses and product portfolio are subject to change through acquisitions, sales, wind-downs and strategic decisions. For example, the bank’s FY2025 results announcement reported the sale of Bendigo Superannuation and the retirement of the Rural Bank brand, alongside migration of Rural Bank customers to the Bendigo core banking system.^[7] These examples show why historical descriptions of the group’s products should be read alongside current annual reports.

Digital banking and technology

The Up platform represents the group’s digital banking activity and has operated alongside established Bendigo Bank services. The bank’s 2021 announcement described Up as the product of a partnership with Ferocia and said the acquisition of Ferocia would bring its digital capability inside the bank. Up remained a distinct brand after the acquisition announcement.^[8]

Technology integration has been an important operational theme. At the end of FY2025, the bank reported reducing its core banking systems from three to two; its FY2026 announcement later said the final consolidation phase had been completed in December 2025.^[6][7] Consolidating systems is intended to simplify technology and support customer and business processes, but it also involves operational, migration and execution risks. The RACQ Bank transaction announced in December 2025 was presented as a future portfolio transfer that would use the group’s customer migration capabilities; at the time of the FY2026 results, completion was expected in the first half of FY2027 and remained subject to conditions and regulatory approvals.^[9][6]

Regulation and oversight

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is listed by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) as an Australian-owned authorised deposit-taking institution. APRA supervises authorised deposit-taking institutions under Australia’s banking framework.^[3] The bank is also a listed company subject to disclosure and market rules applying to entities quoted on the Australian Securities Exchange.^[2]

Prudential supervision concerns matters such as a bank’s capital, liquidity, governance and risk management. In August 2026, APRA announced licence conditions for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank after an independent root-cause analysis identified persistent weaknesses in its non-financial risk management framework. APRA required a comprehensive rectification program, an independent assurer and board attestation, and maintained a $50 million operational-risk capital add-on pending remediation. APRA stated that the bank remained financially sound with strong capital and liquidity positions, while expressing concern about the identified risk-management weaknesses.^[10] These conditions are part of regulatory oversight and are not the same as a finding that the bank is insolvent.

The distinction between financial risks and non-financial risks is relevant to understanding the regulatory action. Financial risks include exposures such as credit and market risk; non-financial risks include matters such as operational processes, compliance, governance and controls. APRA’s announcement focused on the latter and described the corrective work it expected the bank to undertake.^[10]

Financial reporting and recent performance

The bank reports financial results for fiscal years ending 30 June. Its FY2026 annual report defines that reporting year as 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.^[5] The group reports statutory results and may also discuss measures such as cash earnings. These measures have different definitions: cash earnings are a company-defined performance measure and should not be treated as interchangeable with statutory net profit. Readers comparing periods should use the bank’s reconciliation and explanations in its annual and results reports.^[5][6]

For FY2026, the bank reported cash earnings after tax of A$530.2 million and statutory net profit after tax of A$375.1 million. It reported that cash earnings increased 3.0% year over year. The board determined to pay a fully franked final dividend of 33 cents per share.^[6] Its announcement also reported customer deposits of A$74.1 billion and residential lending of A$66.4 billion at the end of the year.^[11] These figures describe a particular reporting period and should not be read as current balances beyond that period.

For comparison, in FY2025 the bank reported cash earnings after tax of A$514.6 million and a statutory net loss after tax of A$97.1 million. The company attributed the statutory loss largely to a goodwill impairment, while cash earnings were down 8.4% from FY2024.^[7] The difference between statutory and cash earnings in that year illustrates how non-cash items and adjustments can produce materially different reported measures. The FY2026 results subsequently reported a statutory profit, but the two years’ figures are not by themselves a complete assessment of the bank’s financial condition.

Shares and corporate identity

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited trades on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker BEN.^[2][2] Its shareholders therefore hold equity in the listed parent company, rather than deposits in the bank. Shares and bank deposits are distinct financial claims and have different legal and economic characteristics. Deposits at eligible Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions may fall within the government’s Financial Claims Scheme subject to its rules and limits; that scheme is separate from protection against changes in the market value of a company’s shares.^[12]

The legal entity name is Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited, while “Bendigo Bank” is commonly used as a customer-facing brand and shorthand. The group’s 2026 annual report defines the bank for reporting purposes as the listed entity and its wholly owned and controlled subsidiaries, unless stated otherwise, and separately identifies its relationship with Community Bank companies.^[5] This distinction matters when interpreting reported results, ownership, regulatory status and the activities attributed to the group.