Mr Brown began his career working for the ANZ bank in Port Fairy in 1970 before his job took him to 10 different Victorian locations including Gippsland and Echuca and across the south-west.

"I started off as a teller and worked up to a regional manager level over the course of 32 years," Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown joined South West Credit in 2002 and was appointed chief executive shortly after. Over his time he has enjoyed helping the member-owned co-operative grow.

"For a relatively small organisation it grew into a significant business servicing over 12,000 customers and employing 20 people."

Mr Brown said technology had been the biggest change he'd seen in the industry during his time. "We've moved from (paper) savings passbooks to digital banking and an app world."

He said South West Credit's strong customer service focus, on which it was built upon, would continue following its April 1 merger with Beyond Bank.

"It was time to partner with a bigger mutual bank to provide the scale that's required to continue to invest in the products and services in the south-west," he said.

Over the years Mr Brown enjoyed working with branch staff and members and being part of an organisation that made "significant contributions" to organisations and community groups.

Mr Brown, who turns 70 this year, is looking forward to spending more time with his wife Margie, their four children and eight grandchildren and travelling in Australia and overseas.

"I'd like to say thanks to our members, staff and the board for their support and the family of course," he said. "I'm looking forward to the next phase of life. I've got no regrets.

"I've been fortunate to enjoy a wonderful time with South West Credit, 20 years with South West Credit and overall a career of 50 years in banking," Mr Brown said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.