MECU

Car Loans
Financial Planning
First Home Buyers Loan
Green Home Loans
Home Loans
Insurance
Personal Banking
Personal Loans

Phone:	132 888
Website:	http://www.mecu.com.au

Choosing a provider of banking, insurance and financial planning services is an important decision that should be made carefully.

mecu is a financial services organisation with a difference. Our core business is personal banking, insurance and financial planning. As a member owned financial cooperative we’re committed to enhancing your financial well-being in a socially responsible way. We believe a strong synergy exists between social and environmental responsibility and cooperative banking, so we’re committed to sustainable development as a way of doing business.

Today, over 100,000 people and their families choose to conduct part or all of their banking with mecu.

As published by mecu the principles of mutuality cover:

• Open and voluntary membership

• Democratic control

• Non-discrimination

• Service to members

• Distribution to members

• Building financial stability

• On-going education

• Cooperation among cooperatives

• Social responsibility

The cornerstone of mecu is our ability to consistently and effectively provide our members and their families with value for money, compelling integrated banking, insurance and financial planning solutions, as well as memorable superior service in a profitable and sustainable way.

We recognise the need for a broader measure of business progress and common prosperity than economic growth alone. mecu’s competitive advantage is our ability to align our values with our stakeholders' expectations and to embed sustainable development principles into our organisational culture, operations and products.

Our approach to business means adopting systematic and balanced business strategies that satisfy the economic, social and environmental performance expectations of our stakeholders today, while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the financial, human and natural resources that will be needed to develop mecu in the future.

Our Approach to Sustainability

The strategy is based on the pursuit of the following four scientific principles developed by The Natural Step;

• Concentrations of substances extracted from the earths crust

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Concentrations of substances produced by society

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Degradation by physical means

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Human needs are met worldwide

  

  
  
  
  

The strategy takes the form of a Sustainability Covenant, which we are signatories to with the Victorian Government, through EPA Victoria (the state environmental regulator).

The Sustainability Covenant, developed over an 18 month period through a series of staff workshops, was signed on 29 June 2005. The Sustainability Covenant is an agreement between EPA Victoria and mecu to work together to protect the environment and contribute to a more sustainable society. The agreement is made in accordance with provisions of the Environment Protection Act 1970.

The objectives of the Covenant are to:

• Increase the efficiency with which mecu uses resources to develop and deliver its products and services;

• Help to alleviate negative environmental and social impacts through our products and services;

• Encourage and assist our members to live more sustainable lives;

• Apply prudent financial business practices to our operations, to ensure economic and financial sustainability; and

• Support developments within the finance sector that encourage others to embrace sustainability.

The Covenant focuses on five key areas, which have been derived from mecu’s purpose and values:

1. Ethics and governance

2. Employees

3. Social impact

4. Environmental impact

5. Leadership and partnerships

Implementation of the covenant is being overseen by a steering committee, which is made up of two representatives each from EPA Victoria and mecu, of which at least one must be a representative from senior management.

It is envisaged that mecu’s Sustainability Report will act as the key reporting mechanism for covenant implementation.