Sustainable finance gives mecu the edge

“The business case for sustainable development is crystal clear,” says Rowan Dowland, mecu’s General Manager Development.

“Despite the global financial crisis our profitability increased last year. Customer growth is at its highest level since the turn around in 2003 and the value of the business has grown substantially with assets now exceeding $2.3 billion and membership of 140,000. We are now one of Australia’s most successful credit unions in terms of work place culture, financial performance and strength of balance sheet and this wouldn’t be possible without a values based approach to banking.”

The shift is also reflected in the growth in community based organisations now banking with mecu. Cutting across education, affordable housing and the environmental and social not for profits, deposits held by community sector organisations with mecu grew by 46 per cent last year rising to $148 million.

Part of the attraction for organisations is receiving the double benefit of depositing money at competitive rates while funds are invested in a socially responsible way.

mecu is proactive in the affordable housing sector and is currently evaluating more than $100 million in social housing project finance. Judy Line, CEO of Women’s Housing Limited, says “mecu is one of the few financial institutions investing and lending in the affordable housing space. We bank with them because they provide an outstanding service but their community values are also very much in tune with our own.”

At the eco end of the building spectrum mecu financed the Mitchell Enviro industrial estate on the Gold Coast which is the first industrial property in Australia to receive EnviroDevelopment certification from the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA).

Projects such as the Conservation Landbank have also piqued the interest of environmental NGOs. Established over a year ago in Victoria’s west Wimmera, this world leading initiative protects prime conservation habitat for the endangered Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. mecu uses the Landbank to offset the biodiversity lost due to new home constructions, and plants trees to mitigate climate change.

The credit union employs a range of mechanisms to give back to those who support it. From the education perspective it donates more than $40,000 a year to the State Schools Relief Committee to support disadvantaged children. Scholarships help build capacity within the education and affordable housing sectors while conference sponsorship in 2009 has helped stage the Building community centred economies conference in Queensland, the Victorian Council of Social Services congress and the Women’s Housing Futures conference in Victoria.