Business alliance to bring new financial services to primary producers
Allfinanz group Suncorp Metway and agribusiness leader Pivot Limited are to launch a major expansion into the financial services industry in south eastern Australia.
The alliance was announced jointly in Melbourne by Bob Campbell, Managing Director of Pivot Limited, and Steve Jones, Managing Director of Suncorp Metway Limited.
Under the terms of the alliance Suncorp Metway and Pivot will provide a range of lending, leasing and insurance products to Pivot's 50,000 rural customers in south eastern Australia.
The products will marketed by both companies, but offered by Suncorp Metway.
August will be the launch of a staged implementation program with the appointment of Suncorp Metway Business Banking Managers at 5 Pivot Prescription Farming Centres located at Ballarat, Shepparton, Timboon, Wodonga and Swan Hill
"This innovative partnership will provide Pivot with the capability to extend its Prescription Farming program to cover the key inputs of fertiliser, feed and finance", Mr Campbell said.
Mr Jones said the alliance marked the first major interstate expansion for Suncorp Metway since its creation in 1996 from the merger of Suncorp, Metway and agribusiness group QIDC.
"From Suncorp Metway's point of view we gain access to a large rural customer base without having to invest in a high cost branch network . It's a good deal for us and for Pivot.
"For rural producers, this move gives services back to rural areas and adds a great deal of agribusiness lending expertise and competition to rural banking in Victoria," he said.
"This new alliance with Pivot lets us leverage our rural strength in Queensland and grow more rapidly in other States", Mr Jones said.
Suncorp Metway is Queensland's largest company and Australia's seventh largest bank with assets of $22 billion. It has a long history of close association with the agricultural sector and a 27% share of rural lending in Queensland.
Pivot, Australia's largest farmer-owned cooperative, is a leading supplier of fertiliser, stockfeed and aquafeed. The group has 32 Prescription Farming Centres across Australia.
Pivot sees the alliance with Suncorp Metway as a natural fit with their existing services to the rural sector and with the Co-operative's commitment to expand as a national agribusiness company. The alliance will also strengthen the recent expansion of Pivot's Prescription Farming program into Queensland which is Suncorp Metway's home base.
The two companies intend to further extend their financial services alliance throughout NSW, SA, Victoria and Tasmania in stages over the next few years.
As the alliance is implemented Suncorp Metway's Banking Development Managers will work with 250 Pivot agents plus Regional Sales personnel to form a relationships with the rural sector and align financial services with input management to lift the profitability of rural enterprises.
28 May 1999
next steps
For further information contact: Bob Campbell, Managing Director Pivot Ltd. - (03) 9605 0400; Joe Dowling, Suncorp Metway Head of Public Affairs - (07) 3835 5796, 0408 884737; Selena Jensen, Pegasus Communications - (03) 9654 1999, 0413 826 782
