Building Societies Abroad

Building societies exist in a number of other countries across the world, most notably in Australia, Ireland, Jamaica and New Zealand.

Australia

The first building societies were established in Australia in 1850. Building societies were relatively small regional institutions, present in all states of Australia, but not a significant element of the financial system.

Because of strict regulations on banks, building societies flourished until the deregulation of the Australian financial industry in the 1980s. Eventually many of the smaller building societies disappeared, while some of the largest (such as St. George) officially attained the status of banks. The societies that still remain are:

ABS Building Society
B&E Ltd
Greater Building Society
Heritage Building Society Limited
Hume Building Society
IMB Ltd
Lifeplan Australia
Maitland Mutual
Newcastle Permanent

Finland

In Finland, the Mortgage Society of Finland, a permanent building society, was founded in 1860. Since 2002, mortgage loans are handled by Suomen AsuntoHypoPankki, the licensed bank owned by the society.

Ireland

In Ireland, the three building societies are as follows:

EBS Building Society
ICS Building Society
Irish Nationwide Building Society

Jamaica

In Jamaica, four building societies compete with commercial banks and credits unions for most consumer financial services. They are:

FirstCaribbean International Building Society
Jamaica National Building Society
Scotia Jamaica Building Society
Victoria Mutual Building Society

New Zealand

In New Zealand, a number of building societies have been established. However the New Zealand finance company crash of 2006-2008 and the flow on from the credit crisis have lead to the consolidation, collapse and restructuring of many, notably Southland Building Society who moved in Oct 2008 to become a registered bank. Some of the building societies that remain include: