News

$5,000 raised for the Invictus Foundation!

Here at the Australian Military Bank, we were honoured to fundraise in aid of the Invictus Games, held in Sydney on 20-27 October 2018. The Invictus Games embodies the fighting spirit of our wounded, injured and ill servicemen and women and featured more than 500 competing athletes from a record 18 participating allied nations. The Games recognise and thank families and friends for their role and the challenges they share in supporting our wounded warriors.

To show our support for the Invictus Games, the bank committed to match dollar for dollar; every dollar donated by members. Collectively, Australian Military Bank along with its members raised a total of $5,000. We would like to sincerely thank all members who donated to the games.

Also, we’d like to thank all members that entered out ‘Trip for 2 to the Invictus Games’ competition and acknowledge our prize winners James (WA) and Makaila (QLD). Both James and Makaila provided compelling responses as to ‘why the Invictus Games inspires them?’. Of hundreds of entries received, their responses were selected after an independent third-party moderator reviewed all eligible applications refining the list to a small group of finalists. Our Executive Team had the privilege of reviewing these in detail and selected James’ and Makailas’ responses after much deliberation.

We were moved by the courage of the competitors and the spirit of the games. It was a fantastic opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of our bond and the privileged role we have in serving the Defence Community.

We value your feedback

We’re always looking at ways in which to improve how we best serve the financial needs of our members. Over the coming months, we’ll be emailing members to gather feedback regarding your experience with us.

We won't ask for any business nor personal information, and we're not trying to sell you anything - our only interest is your experience as a member.

What will we do with your feedback?

The responses gathered will be used to help improve the products and services offered to our members and we are dedicated on providing our members with better quality services, lower fees and competitive interest rates.

If you have any questions regarding our member experience surveys please contact us on 1300 13 23 28 or email us at service@australianmilitarybank.com.au

Australian Military Bank’s Low Rate Visa Card takes out best value award

For the third consecutive year, Australian Military Bank’s Low Rate Visa Card has been named one of Australia’s best value credit cards in the Mozo Experts Choice Awards – Credit Cards.

In recognition of its great ongoing value for cardholders, Mozo awarded Australian Military Bank’s Low Rate Visa Card best value Balance Transfer Credit Card.

John Ford, Australian Military Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to win this award again. It’s a testament to our ongoing commitment to serve the Defence Community with products that help them save money and add value”.

The financial comparison site analysed 199 credit cards from 67 providers to identify the country’s best value credit cards across several categories including low rate, balance transfer and rewards.

The Mozo Experts Choice Awards recognise products that deliver exceptional value or quality to consumers. Mozo Experts Choice Awards are judged by senior and experienced Mozo experts, focusing on the value that products deliver to customers. Comparing products like-for-like.

To find out more about our award winning Low Rate VISA Card; click here.

About the Mozo Experts Choice Awards

The Mozo Experts Choice Awards are an initiative that recognises Australia’s best value products and helps Australians to save money by choosing better products. Experts Choice Awards are given to those products that represent the best value in their category. In carrying out the Mozo Experts Choice Awards in Credit Cards we analysed 199 personal credit card products issued by 67 Australian financial institutions based on data contained in Mozo’s product database as at September 2018. For the full list of winners, click here.

About Mozo.com.au

Mozo compares over 1,800 products from 180 banking, insurance and energy providers to help Australians find a better deal each month via its award-winning comparison tools and calculators. Mozo is proud to partner with some of the country's biggest online publishers, making it one of the most visited comparison sites in Australia.

'Cold Calling Scams' - ASIC Notification (October 2018)

Australian Military Bank has received information from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) concerning cold calling scams.

If you identify any transactions including attempted transactions, involving the parties listed in the ASIC notification, you should contact the Bank immediately.

ASIC Notification – October 2018

Summary of ‘cold calling scams’

• ALLIANCE FX CAPITAL LTD (bank account identified)
• DMT LIMITED (no bank account identified)
• FM WEALTH MANAGEMENT (bank accounts identified)
• HARVEST ASSET HOLDING LTD (no bank account identified)
• HBC BROKER also known as MPG Invest Limited (no bank account identified)
• GUMPOLD CHRISTIAN & CO (bank accounts identified)
• OLYMPIA CAPITAL EXCHANGE (bank account identified)
• KNIGHT & MCKENZIE PARTNERS (bank accounts identified)
• NBR TRADING YOKOHAM also known as NBR Trading Co Ltd (bank accounts identified)
• OXFORD FINANCIAL SERVICES (no bank account identified)
• THE DOMINION GROUP (bank accounts identified)

Extended Operating Hours - Kapooka

Please note that our Kapooka Branch is now open on Sunday’s!

We’re trialling Sunday operating hours (9am-12pm) until 14 October 2018.

If you’re in the area at the time and need any assistance with your banking needs, pop in and say hi  to the team.

Vale Bill Hardman

It’s with deep sadness that we share with our community the passing of our dear and respected colleague Bill Hardman. Bill joined us recently as the Area Manager of the Riverina. He tragically passed away on Tuesday the 14th August in a traffic accident.

On behalf of the Bank, we extend our deepest condolences to his family & friends. He will be remembered as an amazing dad and hard worker and will be forever in the thoughts of all of us.

Rest in peace.

John Ford
CEO
Australian Military Bank

2018 Call for Nominations

Nominations are invited for the Australian Military Bank Board of Directors.

Candidates must be nominated by two members of the Bank, have been a member continuously for at least 3 years at the date of nomination and meet a number of requirements as prescribed in
the Bank’s Constitution and nomination pack.

A copy of the Constitution is available on our website at australianmilitarybank.com.au/constitution

Nominations close 5.00pm (AEST) on Friday 31 August 2018.

To obtain a nomination form and pack, please contact:
Bernadette Gates
Mail: PO Box H151, Australia Square NSW 1215 or
Email: agm2018@australianmilitarybank.com.au

Appointment of new Auditor

We are pleased to advise that respected audit firm, KPMG, has filled our external auditor casual vacancy. KPMG are leading assurance specialists and have particular expertise in the customer owned banking sector. They have replaced our previous external auditor, Ernst & Young.

What is phishing?

Phishing is a cybercrime where criminals target confidential information by stealing login credentials, account details and private data such as personal identity information.

How to identify a scam

These criminals deceive users online by convincing others they are conversing with a trustworthy source. They try to obtain information by luring users to share passwords or credit card details via the web to gain access to personal accounts.

How to protect yourself

• Change your password every six months and ensure you include a mix of lower-case and upper-case letters, numerical values and special characters.
• Don’t click on links or attachments that you receive from people or organisations you are not familiar with.
• Be careful of messages that seem ‘too good to be true’.
• Question any messages you receive that appear threatening or suggests you to take action.
• If you come across a suspicious link, hover your mouse over the link to see where the actual web address will take you – you can even search any relevant terms you find in the URL.
• Stay smart online by keeping informed with any recent scam threats.

What to do if you suspect suspicious activity

If you have provided your personal banking details to a phishing site, please get in contact with Australian Military Bank immediately by calling our Member Contact Centre on 1300 13 23 28 from 9am – 6pm on Monday to Friday or between 9am – 12 pm on Saturdays (AEST).

You can also report scams to the ACCC via Scamwatch. This is a page where people report incidents, so others are aware of current scams, can monitor trends or disrupt a scam where possible.

If you believe your personal information is at risk, you can contact IDCare on 1300 432 273 or visit idcare.org.

How Australian Military Bank protects your private information

We only ask for personal information relevant to our business relationship with a customer. This information will generally be provided when applying for one of our products or services.

We take extra care in ensuring your personal information is protected from misuse, interference and loss as well as unauthorised access, disclosure or modification.

Remember: Australian Military Bank will never send you a link or contact you via email to ask for your personal or financial details.

For further information, you can view your privacy policy here.

Be aware of cold calling scams

At Australian Military Bank, we're dedicated to protecting your financial and personal information and as such we always urge members to be aware of cold-calling scams.

What are cold calling scams?

Cold calling scams may be suspicious numbers that attempt to contact you and ask for your financial and personal details. They may appear genuine and can pretend to be working from a government agency or other organisations and may even ask you to transfer monies to an account either in Australia or overseas.

What should I do if I’ve answered a suspicious call?

If you receive a suspicious call and are asked for personal details, simply hang up, block the number and/or delete the email. We strongly encourage you to lodge feedback via our website under the ‘Contact’ link here.

To be extra careful, make sure you monitor your transaction listing to identify any suspicious activity, should you come across an unexpected transaction. If you've recently experienced this issue and have provided your bank account or credit card details, please contact us immediately.

How would I know if I receive a suspicious call or email?

To avoid any potential scams, be aware of a few tricks scammers may use as advised by ASIC:

• Claim to be professionals
• Act friendly to become your friend or make you feel obligated
• Be persistent to get you to agree before the offer ends
• Provide fake websites or other contact platforms (i.e. social media pages)

Where can I go if I want further information on this?

ASIC have also provided a list of unlicensed companies to be aware of. To further prepare yourself, you can view this here.

For further enquiries, please do not hesitate to call our Member Contact Centre on 1300 13 23 28 from Monday to Friday between 9am-6pm AEST or on Saturdays from 9am-12pm AEST.