Whanganui named The Co-operative Bank's branch of the year

The Co-operative Bank's Whanganui staff (from left) Tarsha Boniface, Jon Palmer, Jeanne Stewart, David Hoekstra and Penny Sell celebrate being named the top branch. Photo / Bevan Conley

"Absolutely stoked" is The Co-operative Bank's Whanganui staff's reaction to being named the bank's top branch.

Manager Jon Palmer said the branch was runner-up a few years ago and its eight staff had been striving to win the top award by excelling in targets for sales, administration and audit.

"We have been top branch in our region before but this is branch of the year for the whole organisation, which has 32 branches," Palmer said.

"Technically, we are joint winners with The Palms branch in Christchurch.

"I'm very pleased with our team and what we have achieved. It is a credit to our staff for the relationships and rapport they have built with our customers. We're all absolutely stoked to have achieved the award this year."

Palmer said Whanganui was one of the bank's smaller branches but, as a percentage of population, its customer base was one of The Co-operative Bank's larger ones.

"We get a lot of very good comments - our customers love us," he said.

"We want to thank our customers for their support. Without that, we wouldn't be as successful as we are. Being a smaller bank we can provide a more personalised service and we treat people as people, not as numbers."

The bank started life as the Public Service Investment Society (PSIS) and became established as a full banking entity in October 2011. Customers receive an annual payout from the bank's rebate scheme.