It was made up of (most of) the former regional savings banks that had their origins as far back as 1847.

The exception to this was the former New Plymouth Savings Bank that had changed its name to Taranaki Savings Bank and continues to trade under this name.

[16] Finally, in 1996 the community trusts sold Trust Bank New Zealand to Westpac Banking Corporation for $1.2 billion.

The two banks merged as WestpacTrust, although the word trust was phased out by 2002.

All of the community trusts still exist, although only one retains any shares in the bank that they were established from.