Our history

With deep roots in New Zealand’s financial landscape, Heartland Bank’s story began 150 years ago with the founding of the Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society in 1875.

Over the decades, we’ve evolved through a series of strategic mergers – first joining forces with SMC Building Society and Loan & Building Society to become CBS Canterbury in 2008. In 2011, CBS Canterbury merged with Pyne Gould Corporation’s Marac Finance, Southern Cross Building Society, and PGG Wrightson Finance to create what is known today as Heartland Bank.

In 2024, Heartland Bank became the first New Zealand registered bank to acquire an Australian bank, Heartland Bank Australia - demonstrating Heartland Bank’s continued strength, resilience and ambition to do things differently.

From these beginnings, we’ve grown into a specialist bank dedicated to helping New Zealanders make the most of their hard-earned money. We’ve gained recognition as Canstar’s Savings Bank of the Year for eight consecutive years, supported over 28,000 New Zealanders to achieve more financial freedom in retirement through our reverse mortgage product, helped thousands of Kiwis to get on the road with our motor finance solutions, and provided essential lending to farmers and businesses across the country.

We’re excited for all that the future holds.

Celebrating 150 years of Heartland Bank

Watch this short clip to find out more about who we are.
Watch the full length video Film assets from The Heart of It: A New Zealand Story of Resilience, Aspiration and Doing Things Differently
© copyright Alamy, Ashburton Museum & Historical Society Inc., Getty Images, Heartland Bank, New Zealand Herald/Dean Purcell, taarep/YouTube, Uplifting.co.nz.
Audio assets © copyright BenSound, MusicBed.

Heartland through the years

1875 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society opens in the small rural Te Waipounamu South Island town of Hakatere Ashburton, Aotearoa New Zealand with George Coleman as its founding Chairman. It raises funds from the business community to help fund young families into houses, advancing in its first year a total of $466 on mortgages. The average cost of a new house was £300 ($600).
1877 The minute book shows that if a director was late or absent from a Board meeting without having sent a letter in advance, they were fined two shillings and six pence.
1882 The Sydenham and Suburban Co-operative Money Club (later SMC Building Society) is founded on the corner of Liverpool and Cashel Streets in central Ōtautahi Christchurch.
1892 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society’s first purpose-built offices are constructed in Tancred Street.
1909 The Ashburton Loan and Investment Society is established.
The Sydenham and Suburban Co-operative Money Club relocates to Sydenham and establishes a permanent home.
1919 New Zealand’s largest stock and station agency is established as Pyne Gould Guinness through the merger of three Canterbury stock and station agencies: Pyne & Co (founded 1887 by F.H. Pyne), Gould Beaumont & Co (established 1851) and Guinness & Le Cren (founded 1891).
1923 The Southern Cross Building Society opens its first branch in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, offering services like CBS Canterbury for New Zealanders living in Te Ika-a-Māui the North Island.
1957 The North Shore Rental Van Company, established in 1952, rebrands as Marac Finance with the aim of supporting small-to-medium business growth and specialising in vehicle finance.
1965 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society’s Tancred Street offices are demolished and a new two-storey building is erected on the site.
1967 Banking institutions band together to create Databank Systems Limited, centralising computer processing across competing banks and propelling them into the digital age.
1979 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society becomes a mutual society.
1981 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society buys its first computer system.
1983 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society moves to the corner of Tancred and East Streets in Ashburton.
1987 The Pyne Gould Corporation is established, with Pyne Gould Guinness becoming a wholly owned subsidiary.
1992 The Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society is demutualised, and one million $1 fixed asset shares are issued.
The Pyne Gould Corporation acquires Allied Finance.
1993 Wrightson Limited is established.
1997 Mortgage advances from Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society exceed $50 million for the first time. Its computer system is upgraded.
1998 A new Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society branch is opened in Christchurch at Riccarton Road. Cashcard ATM and Eftpos cards are introduced.
2001

Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society changes its name to the Ashburton Building Society, trading as ABS Canterbury.

The Pyne Gould Corporation acquires Marac Finance and Frontline Finance.

2002 The Sydenham and Suburban Co-operative Money Club officially registers as a building society on 2 April 2002 and becomes the SMC Building Society.
2003 The Pyne Gould Corporation merges Marac Finance, Allied Finance and Frontline Finance under the Marac Finance brand.
Sentinel is established by brothers Richard and Chris Coon in New Zealand.
2004 Richard and Chris Coon establish Australian Seniors Finance.
2005 PGG Wrightson is formed from the merger of Wrightson Limited and PG Guinness Limited.
2006 The Ashburton Building Society merges with the SMC Building Society and changes its name to Canterbury Building Society, trading as CBS Canterbury.
2008

The Ashburton Loan & Building Society is merged into Canterbury Building Society to become CBS Canterbury.

The Global Financial Crisis results in the collapse of many businesses.
Southern Cross Building Society purchases 11 per cent of CBS Canterbury shares.

2010

A memorandum of understanding is signed between Pyne Gould Corporation, CBS Canterbury and Southern Cross Building Society to merge their banking-related activities.

Chinese seeds and animal-breeding products company Agria Corporation (through its Singapore-based subsidiary) partners with China’s New Hope Group and strikes an agreement to acquire all of Pyne Gould Corporation’s 18.3 per cent shareholding in the PGG Wrightson parent company. The purchase of the finance arm of PGG Wrightson brings with it a $100 million rural lending book.

2011

Southern Cross Building Society, CBS Canterbury and Marac Finance merge to become Heartland Building Society. The company lists on the NZX Main Board.

Heartland Building Society acquires PGG Wrightson Finance, which provides services to rural and farming customers. Heartland Building Society is in a position to apply for a full banking licence.

2012 Heartland Building Society is granted bank registration by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and becomes the country’s twenty-second bank and the only New Zealand-operated, controlled and managed banking group.
2013 Heartland Building Society converts to a company and becomes Heartland Bank Limited.
2014 Heartland acquires the New Zealand home equity release business, Sentinel, and Australian Seniors Finance (ASF), a specialist reverse-mortgage provider. Sentinel becomes Heartland Bank Limited’s reverse-mortgage product. ASF is eventually rebranded to Heartland Finance.
2015 Heartland Bank Limited merges with its parent company Heartland New Zealand Limited, becoming the first New Zealand-registered bank to be listed on NZX Main Board.
2018 Heartland Group Holdings Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and Heartland Bank Limited becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of a new dual-listed parent company, Heartland Group Holdings Limited.
May 2022 Heartland Group Holdings Limited acquires Australian livestock finance company StockCo Australia.
October 2022 Heartland Group Holdings Limited signs a conditional share-purchase agreement to buy Australian authorised deposit-taking institution, Challenger Bank Limited.
April 2024 Heartland Bank Limited acquires Australia’s Challenger Bank Limited, making it the first New Zealand bank to purchase an authorised deposit-taking institution.
2025 Heartland celebrates 150 years since the establishment of its earliest predecessor, the Ashburton Permanent Building & Investment Society. A commemorative book and short film were created to document this significant milestone.

Images taken from The Heart of It: A New Zealand Story of Resilience, Aspiration and Doing Things Differently .

Learn more about Heartland’s history

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