Corporate Profile

` A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.'

For Sandhurst Trustees, it began with a single pen-stroke, when mining manager and accountant John Neeson wrote to influential men of Sandhurst suggesting `the desirability of forming a local Trustees, Executors and Agency Company'.

But as he put pen to paper on that December day in 1887, Neeson could hardly have envisaged his missive would spawn a great trustee company which would quickly establish a reputation for honesty, integrity and trustworthiness and would go on to outlive the name of the city of its birth.

The name 'Sandhurst' disappeared from locality maps in 1891 following an overwhelming popular vote in favor of `Bendigo'. But Sandhurst the company continues to feature prominently on the financial map as one of Australia's oldest and most venerable trustee companies.

Beginnings

Even in the letter which initiated the company, Neeson displayed the acumen which would see him attain the position of its first secretary. Noting the popularity in the colony of these new trustee companies, Neeson shrewdly pointed out to his fellow citizens that arch-rival Ballarat already had one.

The response was immediate and decisive. Five days later, a meeting in Neeson's Pall Mall office determined to form a company and an advertisement was placed in local newspapers offering shares in the venture.

The offer was substantially over-subscribed and on 9 February 1888, an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders elected a board of seven headed by chairman William Davis, who was to hold the post for 20 years.

Adopting the motto `Mindful, Faithful and Lasting', the company committed itself to assisting the development of Sandhurst and surrounding agricultural districts through providing financial and agency services, more specifically as trustee, executor and administrator of wills and estates.

Growth

With Sandhurst (Bendigo) producing prodigious wealth from its deep-lead gold-mining, the company grew rapidly, taking up residency in a graceful View Street building originally used as the city's post office.

That building was to be augmented by rooms added in 1891 and again in 1908, yet even today, well over a century later, the Trustees staff continue to greet clients from behind the same magnificent cedar counter installed in 1891 by G.J. Sweeney of Garsed Street.

Business was conducted to the background thump of the giant stamping batteries at the mighty Hustlers mine overlooking Pall Mall not a hundred yards from the Trustees building.

But although the decor remains largely unchanged, the services provided by Sandhurst Trustees have expanded immeasurably, particularly in the area of funds management where the company provides a range of investor products including superannuation, Corporate Trusts, managed funds and common funds.

This growth phase, which saw profitability grow 10-fold in the 20 years to 1988 (the Trustees centenary year), culminated in the 1992 merger with the city's other financial colossus, the Bendigo Building Society, which became Bendigo Bank in 1995.

Reaching out

The merger saw Sandhurst become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bendigo and heralded an era of unprecedented growth. For the first time in its 104 years, Sandhurst had access to a broad retail distribution arm - Bendigo Bank's Australia-wide branch network - through which to offer its services.

Company profitability soared, and by 2006, funds under management rocketed through the $3 billion mark.

The marriage with Bendigo was also philosophically sound, splicing together two companies which share a customer and community-focus and ethos.

Sandhurst has always believed in returning the support of communities from which it derives its success and continues to contribute to community life through a wide range of sponsorships and bequests.

A modern trustee company

Today, through Bendigo Bank’s network and the internet, Sandhurst’s services are more convenient to customers far and wide.

But in adhering to that century-old maxim `Mindful, Faithful and Lasting' , Sandhurst continues to deliver a quality of caring, personal service which elevates it above its contemporaries.