Neerim Community Bank^® Branch opens for business

A community celebration in Neerim tomorrow will mark the return of banking services to the region.

After months of hard work and lobbying by a steering committee made up of local residents and business people, Neerim Community Bank^® Branch will be officially launched.

And it's a significant occasion for Bendigo Bank's Community Bank team, which has now officially opened 25 Community Banks throughout Australia in just over two years.

Bendigo Bank Group Managing Director Rob Hunt said: "By working in partnership with a community, our Community Bank model enables the creation of a new, publicly-owned local enterprise".

"Many of these people would never have seen a locally-owned public enterprise starting up in their town before, and it requires skill and energy from the community in order to create a solution.

"Local people become involved in a rigorous co-operatively spirited and commercially based corporate structure, using their own skill and their own resources to create their own success," Mr Hunt said.

Neerim celebrations will begin at 9.30am at the branch located in Main Street, Neerim South.

The official ceremony will begin at 10am, compered by Neerim local and television personality Denise Drysdale.

Committee chairman Paul Bright said: "This will be a truly community celebration".

"It hasn't been an easy road to get to this stage, but now that we've arrived, we're confident of a strong future for our branch.

"We have secured banking services for our community and we can now look forward to benefits for not only locals using the branch but also shareholders and the community at large," he said.