A year of creating change together: our 2022 impact report

Our bank continued to grow 

Over 21,000 new customers joined Bank Australia in 2022, our total assets grew to $9.7 billion (up from $8.5 billion in 2021), and our impact finance assets grew to $1.4 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 2021.

We announced our net zero by 2035 target*

Our customers continue to identify climate change as the issue they are most concerned about. So our new climate action strategy sets out our ambitions for the coming decade across key areas such as decarbonisation, regenerative products and services, the protection of nature, climate justice, and climate risk. This is the most ambitious net zero target of any bank in Australia and one of the most ambitious globally.

We made a difference for people and the planet

We believe in using the business of banking to create a positive impact for people and the planet. As a snapshot of the positive impact Bank Australia made in 2022, we have:

• continued to embed the Salvana property into our conservation reserve program, conducting a cultural heritage survey, further tree plantings and fence repairs
• supported a further 22 customer organisations with grants totalling over $400,000 through our community customer grants program 
• seen our customers help raise over $300,000 to buy back land in the Daintree rainforest and return it the Traditional Owners to manage and protect it from development through the HalfCut campaign
• taken the first steps in developing a new First Nations reconciliation strategy.

We’re investing in customer and employee experience

This year we’ve focussed on employee experience, wellbeing and development opportunities. We’ve also made progress towards increasing our service capacity through significant recruitment of new employees in our contact centre and lending hubs. Despite our investment in uplifting our capacity, we’ve seen service levels for customers impacted by a combination of unplanned leave as Covid-19 spread widely through the community, increased staff turnover and a tight recruitment market as employers compete for talent. We recognise the impact this has had on customers and restoring our service levels to meet customer expectations is a key focus.

We’re prepared for the year ahead

Through the resilience we’ve built in our bank, we are well positioned to meet the emerging challenges and headwinds that come our way.

Our priorities for the current financial year are clear:

• continue our transformation program to drive improvements in customer and employee experience
• make progress towards our climate action strategy ambitions, and develop impact strategies across our impact focus areas of affordable and accessible housing, First Nations economic empowerment and reconciliation, and nature and biodiversity
• continue to manage costs and ensure that our bank remains well-capitalised
• remain vigilant on cybersecurity, and educate and support our customers about the growing risk of scams and fraud
• continue to attract new customers and grow our bank
• continue to comply with all regulatory requirements.

See more highlights and read our full 2022 impact report →

‍

*Note - Following our merger with Qudos Bank, we have reviewed our climate action strategy to expand it for the whole bank. The merger changed the size of our business significantly, and this meant we needed to set a new baseline and recalculate our emissions reduction targets. Read our 2026 climate action strategy to learn more about our 2035 emissions reduction target.