MyState Limited (MYS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the 2021 Annual General Meeting of MyState Limited. My name is Miles Hampton and I am the Chairman of the Board. On behalf of the Board, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands we are meeting on today. I'm joining you from Muwinina land, and we have people joining us from many different locations today. So I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of these many lands and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. We are again conducting our AGM using online technology, which allows shareholders, proxies and guests to attend the meeting virtually. Shareholders and proxies have the ability to ask questions and submit votes and I will cover off how this is done shortly. If for any reason, there should be a break in the broadcast, please remain online, we'll overcome the issue and resume as soon as possible. I note that there is a quorum of not less than 25 members present in person or by proxy, and therefore, declare this Annual General Meeting of MyState Limited open. Present today are the following Board members. In Sydney, we have our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MyState Limited, Melos Sulicich; Sibylle Krieger; and Vaughn Richtor. In Melbourne, we have Andrea Waters; and Warren Lee. In Hobart here with me, we have Bob Gordon; and Stephen Davy. We also have present in Hobart, Danny McCarthy, the signing partner for our external audit, which has been conducted by Wise Lord & Ferguson. The Company Secretary has received no -- apologies -- the notice of meeting governing this meeting was distributed in accordance with the Corporations Act and also published on the ASX and MyState website. In accordance with our usual practice, it has been determined to take the notice of meeting as read. Before we commence the presentations and items of business, I'd like to take a moment to provide a quick explanation of how questions and voting will be managed during the meeting. Turning to voting first. In accordance with the company's constitution, it has been determined that voting on all business before today's meeting will be conducted by poll, which will be opened shortly. Christina Piccolo from Computershare Investor Services has been appointed the returning officer. Proxies, which have been lodged by shareholders prior to the proxy submission deadline of 48 hours before the meeting will be displayed on the screen for each item of business and will be incorporated in the poll on each resolution. Any undirected proxy votes given to the Chairman will be voted in favor of the relevant resolutions. You can cast your vote on any resolution at any time during the meeting until the poll is declared closed. You can also change your vote on any resolution during the meeting regardless of whether your vote was initially cast at this meeting or cast before the meeting. Time will be provided at the end of the meeting to finalize votes before the poll is closed. To cast your vote, click on the voting icon, which is highlighted on the screen. This icon will appear on your screen once the poll is formally opened. When you click on the voting icon, the resolutions will be displayed. Simply select your choice of for, against or abstain for each resolution. There is no need to submit your vote as the system will automatically update. When the poll is closed, your final section will be recorded. Turning then to questions. Some questions have been received from shareholders prior to the meeting and most of these have been addressed in the presentations from Melos and myself. And any that have not will be addressed at the end of the meeting. Questions may be asked during the meeting in writing or verbally and will be addressed during the relevant item of business to which they relate. I will shortly explain how to do both. Please note that written questions may be submitted through the meeting platform at any time during the meeting, and we encourage early submission of questions. At each item of business, I will respond to written questions first, and then I will provide time to allow verbal questions to be asked. If a question is raised relating to the Chairman's or Managing Director's address, it will be answered at the conclusion of the Managing Director's address. Depending on the volume of questions raised during the meeting, we may not be able to answer each question individually. However, time will also be allocated prior to the poll being closed to answer any late questions that are raised. Turning to written questions. [Operator Instructions]. To help facilitate the orderly running of the meeting, if you have a written question, we encourage you to lodge it now. Please clearly reference the item of business to which your question relates. And note that there is no need to wait until the particular item of business is being considered to lodge your question. As regards verbal questions. [Operator Instructions]. If you have any issues using this system, please return to the platform. I now open the poll for all resolutions. Voting may commence once the voting icon appears on your screen. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to present my 2021 Chairman's address. Turning first to trading results. The company delivered a statutory net profit of $36.3 million compared to $30.1 million in the previous year. We continued to benefit from the growth in the bank's balance sheet, reduced funding costs and also benefited from a significantly lower impairment charge. But we also incurred some significant one-off restructuring costs as we strive to focus on becoming a pure digital bank on mainland Australia. Melos will take us through the key metrics, but suffice to say, whichever way you look at them, they are an outstanding set of numbers, and our executive is to be congratulated, particularly in the COVID-impacted circumstances. Moving on to dividends. In 2020, the Board determined not to pay a final dividend. This decision reflecting the ongoing uncertainty at the time. As foreshadowed last year, we resumed dividend payments in 2021 paying both an interim and final dividend. When we announced that we would not be paying a final dividend in 2020, unlike some other banks, we did not give an indication that we may pay a catch-up dividend when circumstances became clearer. This reflected a decision at the time to permanently strengthen the balance sheet and position the company for growth. If we had decided to pay a catch-up dividend, it would have caused us to increase the May 2021 capital raising. And the consequence of that would have been that shareholders who did not take up their rights would have been further diluted. The full dividend payout ratio of 69.3% remains comfortably within the targeted range of 60% to 80%. I'd like now to turn to our growth agenda. After a comprehensive review of the competitive landscape, the Board and executive determined that the opportunity and timing was right to initiate a significant acceleration in our growth strategy. At MyState Bank, we have consistently grown our loan book well ahead of system. But if we are to remain competitive, we need much greater scale and we are targeting a sharp increase in the growth trajectory over the next 4 years. At TPT Wealth, funds under management have remained static for several years. And following a significant repositioning of the business with new technology and products, we are now targeting a significant growth in funds under management over the next 4 years. It is pleasing to report that in September, investors in the Select Mortgage Fund voted overwhelmingly in favor of changing a number of key fund parameters, changes, which are an important element in the repositioning of the mortgage funds business. I'd like speak briefly about the capital raising. To support our growth agenda, in May, we undertook a significant capital raising through a $24.2 million partially underwritten entitlement offer to retail shareholders and a $31.3 million placement and entitlement offer to existing and new institutional investors. The Board is extremely conscious of giving retail shareholders every opportunity to take up shares in any capital raising. However, on this occasion, we formed a view that whilst the pure rights issue is by far and away the most equitable way of raising new capital, it was unlikely that it would deliver us the additional capital that was needed to support the growth strategy. Hence, the decision to make a placement followed by a rights issue. The composition of our share register with approximately 50,000 shareholders holding less than 500 shares also influenced our decision. And not unexpectedly, the take-up by small shareholders bore witness to this judgment. However, the overall support of the raising was strong with the company issuing 4.6 million shares under the placement and 8.2 million shares under the rights issue. I'd now like to turn to the retirement of our Managing Director. In July, our Managing Director, Melos Sulicich, advised the Board of his intention to retire at the end of December 2021. Melos has done an outstanding job reshaping and refocusing MyState since he joined us in 2014. Indeed, what has been achieved under his leadership gave us the confidence to pursue a more aggressive growth trajectory. On a personal note, it has been a pleasure to work with Melos. He has always been willing to listen, consider and debate and has brought a focus and vitality to the company. Yes, a focus on results, but most especially a focus on doing the right thing by our customers. I thank Melos for a job very well done and wish him well for the future. Last week, we announced that Brett Morgan has been appointed to succeed Melos as Managing Director. Brett worked with ING in Australia undertaking a number of key roles in the creation of Australia's first digital bank. After 15 years with ING in Australia, he worked in India at a bank that was 40% owned by ING before returning to Australia. He will be joining us from ASX-listed BNK Banking Corporation Limited, where he is currently Chief Executive, Banking and Wholesale. Brett is an experienced digital banker and brings exactly the background and experience to help drive our growth agenda. We look forward to welcoming him in early 2022. In June, we announced the appointment of Stephen Davy as a new director effective 1 July. Steve has a long career leading organizations and retired from his position of CEO of Hydro Tasmania in September 2020 after nearly 16 years, and he brings a wealth of experience to the Board. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to advise that this will be my last AGM as Chairman of MyState as I will be retiring as a Director effective 31 March 2022. After 12 years on the Board and 8 years as Chairman, I've come to the conclusion that it is time for me to pass the baton, so to speak. I'm delighted that the Board has decided to appoint current Non-Executive Director, Vaughn Richtor, to be the new Chairman when I retire. Vaughn joined the Board of MyState in 2019 after a long and distinguished career in banking. He worked in senior roles with ING in the U.K. and Ireland before coming to Australia in 1995 to start ING Direct, where he was Chief Executive Officer for more than a decade, during which he was responsible for establishing ING as the first digital bank in Australia. He subsequently held a CEO role with an ING Bank in India before taking overall responsibility for hitting all of ING's Asian banking businesses. Vaughn returned to Australia in 2012 as CEO of ING Direct, with responsibility for all of ING's banking joint ventures in Asia, including Australia. Vaughn retired in 2016 and has subsequently held -- had a number of board and consultancy roles. Over recent years, MyState has been building a platform to substantially grow its digital banking presence across Australia. And as I mentioned earlier, in May 2021, we undertook a significant capital raising to support acceleration of our growth strategy. Vaughn's experience at ING will be invaluable in guiding the Board and the recently appointed new Chief Executive as the company embarks on the next exciting growth phase. I'm also pleased to announce that with Vaughn based in Sydney, the Board has decided that Bob Gordon be appointed Deputy Chairman, thereby maintaining a strong Tasmanian voice and contact. As this is my last AGM as Chairman, I would like to express my appreciation for the support and contribution of my fellow Board members, both past and present. The commitment and diligence has made my task immeasurably easier, and they deserve a medal for their tolerance of my quirky ways. I would also like to say how much I have appreciated the support of shareholders, many of whom have been investors in MyState for a long period of time. I now invite our Managing Director, Melos Sulicich, to address the Annual General Meeting. After Melos has delivered his address, we will then respond to any questions in respect of either address.

Thank you, Miles. Good morning, fellow shareholders. I'm pleased to present my 2021 address for what's been a pivotal year for the company. While operating conditions remain competitive in the year in review, we performed strongly and are well placed to rapidly increase our customer numbers, deposits and lending at MyState Bank and funds under management at TPT Wealth as part of our 2025 strategy. I'll provide more detail on this strategy, on how that strategy is coming to life shortly. But first, the key highlights from the last financial year. Our strong performance across all of our key financial and operational metrics shows we're on the right track. The company achieved net profit after tax of $36.3 million. The result was underpinned by above-system lending growth, significant deposit growth, active cost management and an improved cost of funding. You can see the details on the slide. Earnings per share increased 19.2%. Operating expenses were managed carefully, leading to the cost-to-income ratio, excluding restructuring costs, decreasing by 153 basis points. Our net interest margin decreased by 10 basis -- sorry, increased by 10 basis points, underpinned by increasing customer deposits and lower funding costs. Customer deposits were up 13.2% over the last 12 months, helped by our award-winning MyState Bank Bonus Saver Account. All these initiatives saw us achieve peer-leading return on tangible equity of 14.1%, up 133 basis points on the previous corresponding period. We've delivered on our strategic initiatives in 4 key areas. We've accelerated the growth of our home loan book while increasing our wealth distribution capability and capacity. Several digital and automation initiatives have transformed MyState into a digital challenger bank. These include: our home loan retention tool, which helps predict when customers are looking to refinance or discharge a loan. This gives us the ability to have a meaningful retention conversation with the customer much earlier than in the past; our best-in-class personal insights hub in our MyState Bank App are generating over 1.5 million insights each month for our customers and efficiencies gained across the business by our new lending and administration platforms and enhanced distribution for TPT Wealth. Our increased branding presence onto the mainland as well as through sponsorships of MyState Bank Arena and Football Tasmania, has improved our brand awareness and has helped us create more and deeper customer relationships. Testament to this is our customer Net Promoter Score of plus 47 at the end of June. Customer funding ratio of 73.4% and COVID-19 assistance to customers who needed it and also welcoming 17,000 new customers in the reporting period. While this Net Promoter Score indicates a strong uptick in our improved banking platform and digital-only banking is part of our future Mainland growth plans, we will always be the human way to bank, making sure the products and services we have are reliable and straightforward. We remain focused on rapid growth supported by a service-led strategy and increased digital investments to drive future operating leverage. These results, together with a $55.5 million capital raising put us in an excellent position to execute the 2025 strategy. Now just taking it down a level to some of the metrics I haven't mentioned yet. Our total loan book was up 6% for the period to $5.6 billion, led by an uplift in second half applications and settlements in home lending. As you'll see later, this momentum has not only been maintained but has increased significantly this financial year. Our total capital ratio improved by 183 basis points. And importantly, return on equity has been solid in comparison to industry peers, significantly higher than the other regional banks and in line with the majors and has been maintained at the same level, whilst the rest of the industry has been declining. All of this shows our multiyear transformation journey is bearing fruit, and we're well placed to harness this increasing momentum because we now have fundamental structures in place that allow us to take advantage of evolving market conditions and customer needs more quickly. At MyState, we have a culture of caring for our customers. This really came to the fore in the last financial year with our need to assist more of them than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns across Australia. The 3 graphs show how early in the pandemic we reacted to ensure that we could help customers impacted by COVID-19 and lockdowns. We quickly scaled up the support systems in place for those who needed them, enabling us to help more customers more quickly. I'm pleased to report that as of the 30th of June, only 35 customers remained on this support. Given the lockdowns across Australia since the end of the financial year, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, we're providing additional assistance to those customers who are in need. It's pleasing to see that the need for assistance this year is significantly less than during the initial phases of the pandemic. As of the 3rd of October, 119 customers are receiving some form of assistance. Our team continues to work closely with these customers to support them and find the best solution to suit their needs and help them get back on an even footing. Environmental, social and governance matters are constantly evolving and becoming increasingly important to MyState, its customers, staff and shareholders. In our 2021 ESG snapshot, after extensive consultation with our stakeholder group, we developed 6 key materiality issues using the global reporting initiatives that guide our ESG efforts. We list them on the left of this slide. They are: supporting customers; governance, conduct and culture; helping our people to be their best; digital enablement and data security; environmental sustainability; and community investment. The reason we've decided to focus on these 6 key areas is clear when you see Why They are Important column. They all serve as a guide that enables us to have better customer interactions; to get the best out of our people whilst providing them with meaningful work and development opportunities; and to ensure a foundation for operating our business responsibly, transparently and ethically while providing better societal outcomes whether that be environmental or community. On the right, you can see where we've made progress on these initiatives, many of which I've outlined today. We'll continue to progress these as part of our ESG commitments, but also because they enable us to make a positive impact on our businesses and stakeholders. Our 2025 strategy is bold. It's focused and builds on our really strong financial position and high customer advocacy to accelerate our current momentum, to take advantage of growth opportunities through our enhanced digital and distribution offering. It aims to grow our share in deposits, lending and funds under management through 4 key areas: developing our culture and people capability; continuous improvement in customer experience and growing our customer base; continuous improvement in simplifying and making our operations more efficient; and growing our distribution capacity. These priority areas will be supported by key enablers that drive innovation and process automation. This activity comes to life through our organizational values of creating customer wow, where we're designing and delivering exceptional customer experiences with a human touch. We can do this because we think and act in the best interest of our customers, appreciate their perspectives and are clear and trustworthy. Chase the better is being bold so that we can embrace the change that's required to succeed and always drive better customer outcomes. We're simplifying and digitizing to deliver things faster and more accurately. And finally, collaborate to win is about openly sharing information with each other so that we can collectively make informed decisions, caring for each other, our customers and our stakeholders. We're quickly making significant progress on implementing our 2025 Strategy. On top of our capital raising, which is a major plank in the execution of our strategy, this year, we've added more business development managers, more than doubling their numbers so that we can reach more brokers and more customers and originate more mortgages. We've added more relationship managers to the TPT Wealth business to deliver more assets into the funds we manage. We're advertising extensively in the Tasmanian and Melbourne markets to grow our brand and customer base. We're building our brand in Tasmania through the naming rights sponsorship of MyState Bank Arena and our partnership with Football Tasmania. We've kicked off projects to upgrade our contact center system and upgrade our Internet and mobile banking platform. We've employed new, experienced senior executives who are capable and have proven ability to build businesses. All of this while maintaining industry-leading service levels and building momentum in the business. And finally, MyState continues -- remains in a fabulous position as we continue to rapidly implement our strategy. Our first quarter performance shows that several key metrics, including customer growth and customer deposits are continuing the momentum from last year. Our home loan book has shown a dramatic increase in the number of applications and settlements. Based on the results from the first quarter of this financial year, our home loan book is showing an implied annualized growth of 18.9%, almost 3x last year's growth. August and September were our 2 biggest months of loan book growth ever recorded. Customer deposits have grown by an annualized 22.3%. Building on the trust our customers place in us as a challenger brand, we're well placed to continue simplifying financial services and making them more intuitive through our ever-developing digital capability. We've built a culture that continually innovates and improves services to deliver accelerated growth while not compromising on asset quality. Over 18,000 customers have joined MyState in the past 12 months and we've recently been named in the 2021 AFR Boss list at #6 as one of the 10 most innovative companies in banking, super and financial services, an unbelievable accolade for a business of our size. It's something that the whole team are incredibly proud of. The direction we've set is the right one and the capital that we raised was necessary for us to do what we're doing. However, as I said at the time of the capital raising, we are expecting earnings per share and return on equity to be lower in the current financial year as the capital is deployed and the business grows. We see this as a necessary cost of growth and securing a sustainable and robust business for the long term. But we're confident that the business will be better, much better for the actions we're taking now. Before this -- before I finish, this will be my final AGM address as I retire at the end of December after 7.5 years with the organization. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here, working with wonderful staff, fantastic customers and all of the other stakeholders that make up the company. I'd especially like to thank and pay tribute to my Chairman, who has been supportive of our direction and has been a solid rock for me during my time here. As CEO, I couldn't wish for a better Chairman to work with. I've learned an enormous amount from him and I'm a much better person as a result. Thank you, Miles. I wish you and your family well in your retirement at the end of March next year. In conclusion, the business is in a strong position to drive significant organic growth, and I wish the company and its shareholders all of the very best of success for the future. And I'll now hand back to the Chairman.

Thank you, Melos. There have been no written questions submitted in respect of either my or Melos' presentation. But we do have an audio question from John Whittington who is representing the Australian Shareholders Association. John, would you like to ask your question?

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is John Whittington, and I'm a volunteer company monitor for the Australian Shareholders' Association. Today, I hold proxies for 52 ASA members and nonmembers for almost 1.2 million MyState shares, which if consolidated, would make us fifth on your top 20 shareholder list. We would first like to thank you, the Board and everyone who works at MyState for producing another great result in very challenging times. And given today's announcement, I'd also like to congratulate you on your successful term as Chair, and thank you for your service to the company. I have 2 questions, one regarding the audit and one regarding the capital raising. Do you want me to ask them together or one at a time?

John, how about one at a time?

Okay. The question about the auditor is when was the current audit company first appointed? When was the last competitive audit tender held? And when was the lead audit partner last rotated?

I wonder if -- I think Wise Lord & Ferguson were auditors of both TPT and MyState Financial Credit Union when the merger occurred. And so I think I can comfortably say they've been auditors -- and a tender occurred in the first year. Sorry, I might invite Danny McCarthy, who's with me in Hobart, who might remember the timing a bit better than I do.

The audit of the team -- of the entity went to tender in the first year that was -- that it was a listed company. And the auditor rotation was last rotated 2.5 years ago. Under the rules, we've got 2.5 years to go on that in the 5 in 8 rule, but that's a matter for discussion.

Okay. And so in other words, it sounds like the auditors have been very long-term auditors with the current organization and the precursor organizations?

It's Miles here. Yes, indeed, that is the case. But as Danny has mentioned, there has been proper audit partner rotation.

Yes. Okay. And my question regarding capital raising is why did you not offer retail shareholders what are often called overs as part of the retail offer? This is that they can -- if there's an -- if it's undersubscribed, people can apply for more? This is often done to minimize the dilution of retail shareholders as class.

That decision was taken when one looks at our share register with more than 50,000 shareholders holding less than 500 shares, and the vast majority of them having sat on the same number of shares subsequent to mutualization. We formed the view that it was unlikely that we would have a take-up of any consequence from the vast majority in numbers of our shareholders, given that they had chosen to stay at their existing number of shares, which I think was 387, but I'm testing my memory there. Certainly, through you -- certainly, John, as I commented on in my Chairman's address, the Board are extremely conscious of trying to give all about -- to treat all of our shareholders fairly and equitably. But the judgment call was there. Very few of our shareholders in that group of 50,000 holding about 387 shares chose to take up their entitlements. That was the decision in respect of the capital raising in 2021. Obviously, if there are future capital raisings, the circumstances may have changed and the Board at the time may have a different view. Thanks, John. Thanks for your question. There are no further questions. So I'll now turn to the first formal item of business, and that is to receive and consider the financial statements and reports and no resolution is required on this item. The directors have prepared and approved the financial statements included in your annual report. The auditor's report is unqualified. Questions are invited in relation to the accounts, the directors' statement and reports or about the conduct of the audit and preparation and content of the auditor's report. Questions may be directed to the external auditor, Mr. Danny McCarthy. I have no advice of written questions or shareholders waiting to ask questions online. So I will then move -- I will now move to agenda item 2. Agenda item 2 is for the meeting to consider and if thought fit pass the following ordinary resolution. That Stephen Davy, who retires from the office of Director in accordance with Clause 61.2 of the Constitution and ASX Listing Rule 14.1, being eligible and offering himself for election, be elected as a Director of the company. I note that the Board, in the absence of Mr. Davy has voted unanimously to endorse Mr. Davy's election. I will now ask Mr. Davy to present to the meeting.

Thank you, Miles, and hello to all attending the meeting. I want to begin by thanking and congratulating Miles on his very large contribution to the group. My name is Stephen Davy. I was appointed to the MyState Board in June this year, and I'm up for election at this meeting of shareholders. Up until a year ago, I was CEO of Hydro Tasmania for 7 years and a Director of Hydro Tasmania and a senior executive for 8 years, overseeing energy markets and building Hydro Tasmania's energy retailing business, Momentum Energy. Before working in the energy industry, I worked for banks and wholesale financial markets for around 15 years. I have 2 other directorships being Sonic Civil Investments, which owns Shaw Contracting and Hardings Hotmix, which are Tasmanian civil construction companies. And I'm also a Director of Volunteering Tasmania, which is the big body for volunteer organizations in Tasmania. I also work with a substantial renewable energy developer here in Hobart. In addition to my position on the MyState Board, I'm also a member of the MyState Group Risk Committee. MyState Limited has commenced a well-thought-out growth strategy based on our strong Tasmanian brand, our digital banking platform and our strong customer-centric culture and execution. My experience in overseeing a growing energy retail business with strict regulation and oversight requiring excellent compliance and risk management practices has helped equip me to be a Director of MyState Limited. I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far from Melos and the team. Their approach to the business is very thorough and despite the current restrictions -- and that's despite the current restrictions preventing many face-to-face meetings. I'm very pleased to be involved with MyState and if elected, look forward to working with my Board colleagues and the executive team as the MyState business continues to grow. Thank you.

Thank you, Stephen. I note that there have been no questions submitted in relation to Mr. Davy's election. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are now displayed on the screen. I'll now turn to agenda Item 3. Item 3 is for the meeting to consider and if thought fit pass the following ordinary resolution, that Warren Lee, who retires from the office of Director by rotation in accordance with Clause 62 of the Constitution and ASX Listing Rule 14.4, being eligible and offering himself for reelection be reelected as a Director of the company. I note that the Board, in the absence of Mr. Lee, has voted unanimously to endorse Mr. Lee's reelection. I will now ask Mr. Lee to present to the meeting.

Thank you, Miles, and good morning to everyone. My name is Warren Lee, and I was appointed to the MyState Board in October 2017, and I'm also up for reelection at this meeting of shareholders. I'm a chartered accountant and had an extensive executive career in financial services in Australia and Asia, including 2 CEO roles. I have 3 other directorships being MetLife Limited, Tower Limited and a start-up small business bank named Avenue. In addition to my position on the MyState Board, I'm also a member of the Audit Committee, Risk Committee and act as Chair of the Digital and Marketing Committee. The MyState Bank business has developed significantly over the last 4 years with a focused digital strategy that efficiently delivers quality services to our current customers and our future customers in both Tasmania and the Mainland. We have also completed an offer, capability and platform upgrade in our wealth business to improve customer experience and outcomes. I commend Melos and the team for keeping focus on business development, even in the difficult times caused by COVID, and we can already see the growth of the company as we continue to invest for the future. This is the way to deliver value for you, our shareholders and our other stakeholders. I'm very pleased to be involved with MyState. And if reelected, look forward to working with the other Board members and the executive as the MyState business continues its successful transition into a leading digital bank and wealth provider in Australia. Thank you for your attention and your support.

Thank you, Warren. I note that there have been no questions submitted in relation to Mr. Lee's election. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are now displayed on the screen. Item 4 for the meeting is to consider and if thought fit, pass the following ordinary resolution, that Robert Gordon, who retires from the office of Director by rotation in accordance with Clause 62 of the Constitution and ASX Listing Rule 14.4, being eligible and offering himself for reelection, be reelected as a Director of the company. I note that the Board, in the absence of Mr. Gordon, has unanimously and -- has voted unanimously to endorse Mr. Gordon's reelection. I will now ask Mr. Gordon to speak to the meeting.

My name is Bob Gordon, and I was appointed to the Board of MyState in 2009 and I'm up for reelection at this meeting. I have a 4-year science degree specializing in Forestry and Economics from the ANU. I'm also the voluntary Chair of all of the MyState Foundation. I was formerly Managing Director of Forestry Tasmania and have had nonexecutive director roles with companies in construction, tourism, plantation development, including a major joint venture with the U.S.-based pension fund. I was the inaugural Chair of the MyState Technology Committee, and help guide the implementation of the new core banking system, Internet banking and other systems that have placed MyState in a good position in its journey towards a digital bank. I'm currently Chair of the Risk Committee, which has been very busy over the last 2 years dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 and the economic dislocation it has caused. I'm also a member of the Digital and Marketing Committee and the Corporate Governance Committee. MyState is well positioned to continue its journey to become a customer-focused digital bank and has the skilled staff and technology platform to make that a success. TPT Wealth has also recently had a technology upgrade and is positioned to grow funds under management and to improve the customer experience. The MyState management team has had a challenging year, but have managed to position the company on a growth path after success capital raising. If reelected, I welcome the challenge to improve MyState's performance. I look forward to working with the management team and my fellow Board members to continue the journey of the company's digital transformation in both the bank and the wealth business. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Bob. I note that there have been no questions submitted in relation to Mr. Gordon's election. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are now displayed on screen. Item 5 is to consider and if thought fit, pass the following nonbinding ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of Section 250R(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 and for all other purposes, the remuneration report, which forms part of the Directors' Report for the year ended 30th of June 2021 be adopted. The remuneration report is set out on Pages 40 to 59 of the 2021 Annual Report. The vote on this resolution is advisory only. The relevant exclusions and details about the outcome of this vote are included in the notice of meeting. We have a question -- we have no written questions, but we have an audio question from John Whittington. John, would you like to tell us your question?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it's John Whittington from the ASA. We would ask that in future you include a table of actual remuneration. This is something the majority -- sorry, this is something in which the majority of ASX 200 companies have in their remuneration reports. This makes it easier for retail shareholders to understand what executives are actually receiving i.e., taking home during the year. We would also ask that you improve your disclosure of the metrics and weightings used in determining short-term incentive awards so that shareholders can better evaluate them. Thank you.

Thanks for your questions, John. John, I can't give a commitment that the company will do so. But I do give a commitment that the Board will have your suggestions reviewed. And if it's considered and I'm certain that if it's considered, it will add significant value, remembering that we are a small company and the remuneration arrangements for our executives are well below many -- the vast majority of ASX-listed 200 companies, then the Board will give consideration to your suggestions. Thank you. I don't believe there are any other questions. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are now displayed on screen. Thank you. Agenda item 6 is to consider and if thought fit, pass the following ordinary resolution, that for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 10.14 and for all other purposes, in accordance with the 2018 ELTIP, the company be authorized to issue after June 2023 -- after 30th of June 2023 up to 16,126 fully paid ordinary shares to or for the benefit of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Melos Sulicich, conditional on the Board being satisfied as at that date that no forfeiture event, including under BEAR or FAR has occurred. In accordance with the Corporations Act and ASX Listing Rule requirements, the company will disregard any votes in favor of this resolution by the company's key management personnel or closely related parties as described in full in the voting exclusion statement set out in the notice and explanatory memorandum for this meeting. I note that there have been no questions in relation to this item of business and the proxy votes received prior to the meeting are now displayed on the screen. Thank you. Before I close the poll, I'd just give notice that if any shareholders have any late questions, we're happy to consider them. I do have 1 written question that was received subsequent to the preparation of my address and Melos' address. And that was from a shareholder who asked the question in view of the 4 pillars of Australia's banking withdrawing from several Tasmania's geo -- of Tasmania's geographically dispersed communities. My question is, thus, what does the Board feel about the opportunities or otherwise of the potential of harvesting such vacancies in the market through providing locally the myriad of banking and other services for which MyState is more than qualified to Tasmania's clearly now growing rural outlook, but not overlooking those migrating or returning by choice to take up a Tasmanian rule coastal way of life. An interesting advertisement for Tasmania, which I congratulate our shareholder on. But to the question, outside of Tasmania, we have a very strong focus on being a digital bank. As recently as yesterday, the Australian Bankers' Association reported on market surveys of banking customers in Australia and more than 80% of them have a view that they wish to do all of their banking online. We don't plan -- we don't have any current plans to reduce our branch network in Tasmania. But in light of the customer trend, we also have no intention of opening additional branches. We've been -- we have not been notified of any further questions. I'll pause briefly to allow shareholders to finalize voting before closing the poll. [Voting]

I will now declare the poll closed. The formal results of the poll will be lodged with the ASX later today. And you can access these results by going to either the ASX or MyState Limited websites. There being no further business for this Annual General Meeting, I thank you for attending today and declare the meeting closed.