IMB began its 135th birthday celebrations this week by gathering its longest serving staff members together at head office for a morning tea.
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The gathering was an opportunity to share stories and little prompting was required, especially among the employees who have each served more than four decades with the Illawarra-born mutual building society.
Accounts clerk Barry Bush started his career at IMB in 1972 and said one of the things that impressed him most during the past 43 years was when the building society started its own IT department instead of outsourcing to a Sydney company.
"I also met my wife here at IMB," Mr Bush said.
Customer service manager Dianne Mountford has been with IMB since 1973 and said one of the things she loved the most was to dress up in the Bee & Zoey Money Box costumes and see the faces of children light up.
"Why wouldn't you stay here?" she said.
"When I started I had to manually calculate interest and hand write onto ledgers. There were no computers. We only had one type of deposit account and one type of loan product."
Branch manager Allison Evans said when she started in 1979 there were no credit cards or ATMs.
Customer service representative Debbie Barnard started in 1984 and said IMB has always had a family feel.
Banking services officer Jenny Cardona, who started as a teller, recalled how 30 years ago cash cards were just being introduced.
"People were saying they would never take off and look where we are now," she said.
Banking services manager Jennifer Donnelly started at IMB 39 years ago and said she had stayed because she had always been treated well.
Mobile lending manager Leanne Louttit began working at IMB during its 100th year and she is often lending to the third generation of families.
"Parents have referred their children and now they are referring their grandchildren," she said.
Loans approvals department manager Neville Elliot commenced work with IMB in 1981 and said he was part of the original team which helped set up branches in Sydney when IMB expanded there.
Chief executive Robert Ryan said the official celebration would start in April and run for 12 months. It coincides with Illawarra's bicentenary of European settlement. IMB is one of the region's oldest institutions along with the Illawarra Mercury, RMB Lawyers and Illawarra Coal.
Mr Ryan said one of the reasons it had lasted so long was the dedication of its 511 employees and the loyalty of its ever growing membership. There are 61 staff who have been employed more than 20 years.
