Being a Shareholder
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Some of the more obvious benefits of joining Nurses First include our commitment to service and our fee free banking philosophy. These benefits can be traced to our standing as a mutual society, where members really do come first. |
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What is Mutuality?
When you join Nurses First, you become more than just a customer. You become a member of Police & Nurses Credit Society, a financial institution that has served Nurses and health professionals for over 20 years.
Police & Nurses operates under a mutual structure where our primary concern is to serve our members. By definition, a mutual reinvests profits for the benefits of all members rather than paying dividends to external shareholders. This allows us to reward members with consistently low fees and personalised service.
The principles of mutuality are defined in Police & Nurses' Constitution and are central to our existence. Importantly, we are committed to retaining our mutuality in the knowledge that it provides a true benefit to our members.
Being a Shareholder
A further aspect of our mutuality, and one of the chief differences between Nurses First and banks, is that our shareholders are also our customers.
At a bank you are simply a customer. To become a shareholder, you must purchase shares on the stock market. Generally, customers who have the most business with the bank are most important to the bank. This is not the case with a mutual organisation. Each of our shareholders has an equal share regardless of their standing or the amount of business they have with the Society.
As a shareholder you have the right to participate in the governance of the corporation by voting at the Annual General Meeting and electing the Board of Directors, and only shareholders can stand for positions on the board.
All shareholders have an equal vote, which means that all decisions are made in our shareholders' collective interest. Police & Nurses has a Board of Directors who are members of the society. Our Board of Directors and all of our staff are motivated to ensure our members and shareholders achieve their financial goals. So you can be assured that our aspirations come not through want of profit at the expense of service, rather, this co-operative approach to business means that all of our members and shareholders share in our success and benefit in many ways.
How our Members Benefit
Based on the principles of mutuality, our success benefits our members equally. Profits are reinvested rather than being paid out as dividends as would happen at a bank. As a result, you can enjoy banking services that are provided in a more friendly and personal way. You are also regularly rewarded with lower fees, constantly improving banking solutions and more competitive rates and products.
We particularly pride ourselves on keeping fees to an absolute minimum. While in recent years many banks have increased fees, we have been able to maintain our commitment to fee free banking and are continually looking for other ways to help our members do their banking free from the worry of fees. By working together, and embracing fee free alternatives, we can benefit all members.
If you would like to find out more about how we can help you, please call 13 25 77.
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