Suncorp

The big bank from Queensland, Suncorp offer an attractive range of credit cards including the Suncorp Gold and Suncorp Platinum, both of which are loaded with great perks and benefits. Signup for a credit card with Suncorp and you’ll be in good company, with over 1,000,000 customers across Australia who trust them for their financial needs.

Suncorp Bank is part of Suncorp Group, Australia’s largest general insurance group and one of the country’s largest banks. The group was formed in 1996 when Suncorp, Metway Bank and the Queensland Industry Development Corporation (QIDC) merged into the Suncorp Metway group.

Suncorp was established in 1916 in Brisbane, Queensland, as the State Accident Insurance Office, later called the State Government Insurance Office. SGIO became a major insurance operation, offering life and general insurance, and compulsory third party insurance, and later expanded to provide superannuation, building society and other finance services. At the time of the 1996 merger, Suncorp was entirely owned by Queensland Government, with $10 billion in assets.

Metway Bank opened in 1959 as the Metropolitan Permanent Building Society, converting to bank status in 1988. By 1996, Metway was the largest locally based bank in the region, also operating in Victoria and New South Wales, with assets of $7.1 billion. The other component of the merger, QIDC, developed from the Queensland Agricultural Bank, which opened in 1902. The bank initially specialised in rural finances, but later expanded to commercial lending to small and medium sized businesses.

The 1996 merger was an initiative of Queensland State Government, with the intention of creating a financial institution equipped to compete on the broader Australian market, and resulted in the fifth largest listed financial services group in the country. In 2002, the group shortened its name to Suncorp, to cover all the group’s operations in Queensland, across Australia and beyond. In 2007, it merged with Promina Group, and further diversified its insurance and financial services across Australia and New Zealand.

Currently, Suncorp is Australia’s largest general insurance group by gross written premium and the country’s fifth largest bank. Its services and products include personal, commercial, employee compensation and compulsory third-party insurance; everyday personal banking, saving and home loans; business accounts and business credit cards, as well as specialist agribusiness banking for farmers.