Corporate Governance. Making things fair for everyone: shareholders, customers and the community at large.

Our Board is comprised of 6 independent, non-executive directors. Details of individual Board members are available here.

Our Board is governed by the ME Constitution and the Board Charter. The Board Charter includes the Board Renewal Policy, which ensures Board composition is reviewed regularly.

The primary role of the Board is to protect the rights and interests of the Bank and to create value for its shareholders and their members, having due regard to the interests of other stakeholders.

The Board is responsible for the overall corporate governance of the Bank including monitoring the business of the Bank on behalf of the shareholders.

The Board meets at least 11 times a year.

The Board has established Board Committees to assist it to meet its responsibilities.


Audit and Governance Committee (AGC)

The Board Audit and Governance Committee assists the Board in fulfilling its corporate governance and oversight responsibilities in relation to the

• Bank’s financial and APRA reporting
• internal and external audit functions
• risk management framework
• internal control system

The AGC meets at least 5 times a year. See the AGC Charter for further information.

Risk and Compliance Committee (RCC)

The Board Risk and Compliance Committee assists the Board in fulfilling its corporate governance and oversight responsibilities in relation to the:

• Bank’s risk appetite statement
• risk management (including compliance) function
• risk management framework
• risk management strategy

The RCC meets at least 6 times a year. See the RCC Charter for further information.

Digital Committee (DC)

The DC assists the Board in overseeing the end-to-end digital delivery of ME's products and services through:

• Receiving regular reporting on the digital ecosystem and customer experience;
• Monitoring the investment in the IT architecture, infrastructure and support systems to underpin the safe and effective delivery of the products and services.
• Monitoring the development and implementation of the annual Program of Work, being the suite of initiatives and investments to implement the Bank’s change program and to underpin the delivery of the strategic initiatives.

The DC meets at least 4 times a year. See the DC Charter for further information.

People and Remuneration Committee (PRC)

The PRC assists the Board to oversee the Bank's people and their performance by:

• monitoring remuneration and compensation (including superannuation) for the directors, CEO, executive management, and other employees;
• providing a formal forum for the Board and management to discuss human resource matters.
• monitoring succession planning for executive management; and
• ensuring there is a robust and effective performance evaluation process for the Board, its committees, and directors.

The PRC meets at least 5 times a year. See the PRC Charter for further information.

To ensure effective corporate governance of the Bank, the Board has established appropriate policies and procedures, including the:

• Non-Executive Director Remuneration Policy, which establishes principles regarding the payment of our directors;
•​ Authorities and Delegations Policy, which establishes the framework for delegations of decision-making authority from the Board to its Committees, the CEO and management;
•​ Code of Conduct, which provides a framework for ME employees to guide our decisions, actions and behaviours in line with our aspiration to be a values-based, high performing organisation, helping all Australians get ahead;
•​ Fit and Proper Policy, which ensures the Board and key managers possess appropriate qualifications and experience, together with sound judgement and integrity, to perform their roles;
•​ Board Disclosure of Interest and Handling Conflicts of Interest Procedures, which establish the disclosures required to be made by directors and the procedures they must follow in the event of a potential conflict of interest.
•​ Prudential Disclosures Policy, which provides for the Bank to make public disclosures that reflect the scope and complexity of its operations and are appropriate, accurate, high quality and timely.

As we are a bank, our main regulator is the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). APRA oversees the banking and financial services industry, including compliance with the Banking Act 1959 (Cth) and APRA's Prudential Standards.

ME is also regulated by:

•​ the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which oversees compliance with the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (including Part 2 regarding consumer protection in relation to financial services), the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), and the terms of our Australian Credit Licence and Australian Financial Services Licence; and

•​ the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) which oversees the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth).

The External Auditor for ME is Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT).

The Bank's Auditor Independence Policy ensures that the Bank's external auditor is independent of the Bank, and that there is no conflict of interest situation that could compromise, or be seen to compromise, the independence of the external auditor.

Modern Slavery Statement – This statement is made in accordance with the Australian Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) for the reporting period of FY20 by Members Equity Bank Limited ABN 56 070 887 679 and for its sole owned entity ME Portfolio Management Limited ABN 79 005 964 134.