Most banks talk about growth. MyState made it non-negotiable.
In a recent conversation on Banking Reinvented, Brett Morgan, CEO and Managing Director of MyState, laid out one of the clearest, most disciplined transformation stories in Australian banking. It's a roadmap for every leader staring down rising costs, legacy complexity, and a customer base that expects more every day.
This isn't a story about slogans. It's a story about execution, culture, and the courage to move early.
And it starts with a simple truth: scale isn't optional anymore.
The bet: go slow or go digital
For MyState, the math was uncomfortable. Every year, the cost of running a bank and wealth business climbs. Systems need upgrades. Compliance demands expand. Technology expectations accelerate. And if your revenue base isn't growing faster than your cost base, something has to change.
MyState refused to accept that trajectory. So they made a strategic bet: expand beyond Tasmania and reach 85% of the Australian population across the eastern seaboard. But they didn't build branches or rely on legacy distribution. They built a digital growth engine.
Home lending through mortgage brokers. Digital expansion. Limited physical footprint. Fast execution.
The pivotal move came next. They invested early in replacing an aging tech stack that slowed them down and frustrated customers. Working with Backbase, they built a modern digital banking platform - not as a "nice to have," but as the foundation for everything that followed.
The results: 45% growth over three years to June 2024 - almost double the market rate.
Why culture made the merger work
Once the organic engine was running, the next step was bigger: a merger with Auswide Bank.
But this wasn't a spreadsheet play. It was a culture play.
Brett made it clear - a merger only works if the cultures fit. Customer-centricity had to collide, not clash. Get that wrong and people spend their time playing politics instead of serving customers. You lose momentum. You lose trust. You lose the reason you merged in the first place.
The alignment between MyState and Auswide was the catalyst. Both banks were customer-obsessed. Both had modernised their tech. Both understood that standing still meant falling behind.
And when market conditions intensified - inflation rising, margins compressing, cost pressures mounting - their combined scale became even more critical. This wasn't about surviving a downturn. It was about having the resources to invest when it mattered most.
The numbers tell part of the story. MyState grew 55% overnight. Auswide saw more than 100% uplift. The combined business expects $20 million to $25 million in synergies, about 13% of the total cost base over 3 years.
But the real win is strategic. Together, they now have the scale to invest in better tech, better processes, and better experiences for both customers and employees.
Day one: stability before transformation
If you want to know whether a leadership team understands transformation, ask them what they protect on day one.
For MyState, day one wasn't about changing logos or shipping quick wins. It was about ensuring customers felt nothing break. Zero disruption. Zero noise. Zero confusion.
Behind the scenes: six months of work to obtain regulatory approval. Three and a half months of integration prep. Eight streams running in parallel across people, culture, customer, product, operations, finance, and risk. Weekly alignment sessions to keep everything synchronised.
The rule was simple: stability first, transformation next.
Brands stayed the same. Digital experiences stayed the same. And when change does arrive, it'll be meaningfully better - not disruptively different.
That mindset tells you everything. MyState isn't pausing to integrate and then transforming. They're transforming the combined business while integrating at the same time. Because in banking today, you can't hit pause on the future just because you're merging.
This is the lesson most banks miss: integration isn't the endgame. It's the starting line.
Culture as operating system
When Brett talks about culture, it's not fluff. It's operational. It's measurable. It's the filter for every hiring decision and every strategic call.
MyState rallies around three values:
Collaborate to win: Everyone wins together.
Chase the better: See something that needs improvement, grab it, fix it.
Create customer wow: Every interaction puts a smile on a customer’s face
But here's what makes it real: when MyState chose their new digital platform, "Chase the better" wasn't a poster on the wall - it was the decision criteria. The old system was aging and not supporting the business with its growth agenda. So they ripped it out and rebuilt it. That's not a values statement. That's a values-driven business decision.
Execution is the second half of the equation. Brett's mantra is clear: culture and execution, execution, execution with the customer in mind.
Financial outcomes follow. They don't lead.
Technology: built for flexibility, not lock-in
The technology story behind MyState's growth is pragmatic, not experimental.
When they replaced their aging digital experience, they didn't just swap one vendor for another. They built a modern digital banking platform with Backbase that could scale with them - and more importantly, they built an integration layer to avoid vendor lock-in and connect to 12 different products across the ecosystem.
That architecture became critical during the merger. Instead of ripping and replacing everything, they focused first on the non-customer-facing stack: collapsing two enterprise risk systems into one, rolling out the better AML system, making day-one risk visibility real across the combined business.
The customer-facing platforms? Those stay untouched until they're ready to move customers to something genuinely better.
This is what modern banking architecture looks like: flexible, modular, and designed to absorb change without breaking.
And it's what made the merger possible at speed.
If you're leading a mid-sized bank, this is your pattern
MyState's journey isn't just a merger announcement. It's a blueprint for every regional bank, credit union, and mid-sized financial institution trying to break out of the gravity of legacy systems and rising costs.
The question isn't whether you need scale. It's how fast you can move - and whether you have the platform to support that speed.
Here's the playbook:
1. Scale is now a must do strategy
If your costs rise faster than your capabilities, growth isn't optional. MyState understood this early and built the digital infrastructure to support aggressive expansion before they needed it.
2. Culture drives the whole system
When customer-centric cultures align, mergers accelerate instead of stall. MyState and Auswide didn't just share values - they shared an operating philosophy.
3. Digital platforms set the pace
Modernisation isn't about tools. It's about removing the friction that slows growth. MyState's early investment in their digital platform made everything else possible.
4. Protect the customer during change
If you disrupt the experience, you lose trust. And trust is everything. MyState chose stability first, then transformation.
5. Don't pause to integrate - transform while you integrate
This is the most contrarian insight: integration isn't the goal. The goal is to emerge stronger, faster, and more capable than you were before. MyState didn't wait for the merger to settle. They're already building the next version of the business.
This is what bold banking leadership looks like.
Want the full conversation?
Brett's story is a masterclass in how modern banks scale fast without losing their soul. If you're navigating growth, a merger, or a modernisation journey, this episode cuts through the noise.
For more insights, listen to the Banking Reinvented podcast, where Backbase CMO Tim Rutten speaks with Brett Morgan, CEO of MyState Bank, about the bank’s national growth journey, its merger with Auswide Bank, and how disciplined leadership and digital transformation drive customer-first success. Listen to the full episode.
