In the 1970s the labour-intensive nature of the business was putting profits under pressure and TEA came up with the idea of offering a money market deposit service for clients, on which it would make a margin.
If they actively solicited funds they would have had to prepare a costly prospectus, so the service was just quietly hinted at, letting clients request it.
Much of this activity was kept off the company balance sheet, so shareholders saw profits rising (often only due to revaluations) without really knowing the basis.
Its trustee operations were taken over by the ANZ Bank and very little information on the collapse was provided to shareholders, or the public, until a government inspector's report in 1990.
Chief executive Peter Bunning had been chiefly responsible for the property strategy along with his colleague, financial advisor/accountant Leigh Jamison.