[1] United Building Society was formed from merging or purchasing the operations of a number of smaller building societies including: By 1990 the United Building Society also operated a chain of real estate agents, United Realty, which is now part of the Ray White Group.
The Auditor-General of South Australia stated that the price represented the total amount of capital in United Banking Group.
[4] The State Bank of Australia had expected to take advantage of a transaction that was to involve no net investment (the purchase price was to be immediately returned after purchase through a capital return), and the deregulation of the New Zealand banking industry, which would allow United to launch a full range of retail banking products including checking accounts.
The expected performance of the new bank did not eventuate, with delays in launching new products, lower than expected profits, and significant losses accrued from United's subsidiary activities.
At the time of the sale it was considered a non-performing asset, having reported a loss of $123.3M in 1991.