About Us

Financial Strength

The Rock Building Society has a very strong balance sheet. All of The Rock's loans are secured by first mortgage over residential real estate and fully insured against any loss with recognised mortgage insurance companies with credit ratings of AA- or better with arrears well below the market average for housing loans. The rest of our assets predominantly comprise bank bills and deposits with other Approved Deposit Taking Institutions (ADIs) supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

The Rock's financial strength is also derived from the following facts:

1. The Rock is a very conservative business;
2. The Rock only funds housing loans, which are fully insured by independent mortgage insurers;
3. The Rock has no equity investments;
4. The Rock does no commercial lending;
5. The Rock has no exposure to unsecured personal loans or credit cards; and
6. The Rock has an expanding branch and agency network, which will further enhance its retail deposit base.

Investment Grade Ratings

In November 2008, The Rock was able to publicly release its 'BBB-/A-3' ratings from Standard & Poor's, the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence including independent credit ratings. These ratings were reaffirmed in late 2009.

The ratings mean The Rock "exhibits adequate protection parameters" to be able to fulfill financial obligations to customers. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investor Services allocated first-time ratings of Baa3 on The Rock’s long-term deposits and a Prime-3 rating for short-term deposits in October 2009.

In releasing the ratings to the market, Associate Analyst at Moody’s Sydney, Daniel Yu, said: “The ratings reflect The Rock’s low-risk loan book, conservative strategy and sound capital levels.”

Managing Director Derek Lightfoot said having investment grade ratings from two independent, international agencies was a tremendous vote of confidence in the business, and is good news for both customers and shareholders.

Government Guaranteed Deposits

Our rock solid reputation has been further cemented thanks to a Federal Government guarantee on all deposit funds up to $1 million placed with building societies, credit unions and banks. This guarantee applies to individual customers through until at least October 2011, meaning deposits for each individual name or entity (company, trust, etc) is guaranteed up to $1 million at no cost to the account holder. Deposits in excess of $1 million will attract a Government fee in return for the guarantee.

Deposits held with The Rock Building Society, in our savings, investment and term accounts, are guaranteed by the Australian Government, which has an AAA investor-grade rating.

Therefore, the only differences between banking with our big city competitors and The Rock are we offer award-winning and friendly customer service* and directly support local communities through employment; an extensive sponsorships and donations program; and returns to local shareholders.

Regardless of the Federal Government guarantee, The Rock enjoys an extremely strong position in the financial services industry with no direct exposure to sub-prime lending, commercial lending or equity investments, unsecured personal loans or credit cards.

The Rock also continues to individually mortgage insure all its loans with independent mortgage insurers and has arrears below the market average for housing loans.

In addition to these conservative business practices, The Rock is rapidly expanding our agency network across regional Queensland.