Countrywide Banking Corporation limited was a retail bank operating throughout New Zealand until 1998 when it was acquired by the National Bank of New Zealand. It was created from Countrywide Building Society, which itself emerged from the original Auckland Co-operative Terminating Building Society created in March 1897.
History
Countrywide Bank registered as a bank in 1987 during a period of significant regulatory change in the New Zealand banking system. At the time of registration the bank's two major shareholders were Bank of Scotland, a large Scottish bank headquartered in Edinburgh, and General Accident, a major general insurer headquartered in Perth, Scotland. The bank was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.[1]
In 1998 The National Bank of New Zealand, which itself was owned by Lloyds Bank in the UK, purchased Countrywide Bank from the Bank of Scotland, which by this time had become the sole owner of the bank.[1] The operations of the two banks were merged with a period of consolidation in the retail network that allowed National Bank customers to use Countrywide Bank branches even though the two banks were yet to merge their back-end computer networks. The combined branch network was then rationalised with the rebranding of all branches to the National Bank branding and the closure of surplus and duplicated branches.
Building societies merged or purchased by Countrywide Building Society/Countrywide Bank:[3]
Auckland Co-operative Terminating Building Society
Central Union Permanent a.k.a. New Plymouth Investment and Loan Society
Central Building Society, Palmerston North Co-op Building Society
Consolidated Permanent Building Society
Countrywide Permanent Building Society
New Plymouth Investment and Loan Building Society
Provident Investment and Building Society of Taranaki Building Society a.k.a. Countrywide Permanent Building Society
Western Building Society Building Society a.k.a. Western Co-op, Western Co-op Terminating Building Society
Western Co-operative Building Society
Western Consolidated Permanent Building Society a.k.a. Consolidated Permanent Building Society and Feilding Permanent & Investment Society