Greater Building Society chief executive Don Magin says a favourable rating from Standard and Poor’s is further proof that the Greater is a strong, viable alternative to the major banks. 

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has revised the outlook on Greater Building Society's ratings from stable to positive. It has also affirmed the Greater’s 'BBB/A-2' counterparty credit ratings.

Mr Magin said the rating was good news for Greater members and reflected the strength of the building society.

He said the Greater's low risk profile, focus on well-secured residential mortgage lending, strong capital adequacy ratios and good established underlying operating performance were some of the reasons given by the agency for its revised rating.

The favourable rating comes after the Greater announced a strong but modest profit of $26.7 million at its AGM earlier this month. The Greater’s retail deposits were up 7.8% to $2.95 billion and total member funds increased to $277 million. The Greater’s ratio of impaired loans is 0.036%, far lower than the major banks. Its capital adequacy as at June 30 was 17.2%, well above the regulatory requirement.

“This rating will enable the Greater to continue to access wholesale funds to offer competitive rates to members,” Mr Magin said.

“Despite having higher funding costs the Greater’s standard variable home loan and basic home loan rates are well below those of the major banks,” he said.

The Greater Building Society is a Top 500 Australian private company (BRW 2010) with assets worth more than $4 billion. It provides financial services to almost 250,000 members in the Hunter, Central Coast, Illawarra, North Coast, New England, and Western regions of NSW as well as in South-East Queensland and Townsville. The Greater has been named Australia’s Building Society of the Year in both the 2010 AFR Smart Investor Blue Ribbon and Mozo people’s Choice awards.