$480 - $4.7bn Australia's OG Peer to Peer Lender: Michelle Bagnall - Bank First Artwork

Fintech Chatter: Conversations with Fintech CEOs and Founders

350+ episodes. 40+ countries. The podcast fintech leaders actually listen to.

Fintech Chatter is where founders, executives, and investors behind the world's most ambitious fintech companies share what's actually working.

We cover topics like raising capital, scaling internationally, hiring leadership teams, and the challenges of building with transformative technologies across payments, crypto, AI, wealth, insurance. If it's in Fintech we've got you covered.

Hosted by Dexter Cousins, founder of Tier One People, Australia's specialist executive search firm for fintech and transformative technology.

With 17 years placing CEOs, CTOs, CPO's and country managers across the sector, Dexter brings an operator's lens to every conversation.

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Fintech Chatter: Conversations with Fintech CEOs and Founders

$480 - $4.7bn Australia's OG Peer to Peer Lender: Michelle Bagnall - Bank First

June 01, 2026 • Dexter Cousins | Executive Search For Fintech • Episode 367

0:00 | 44:57

Looking to upscale your fintech leadership team? Start at tieronepeople.com

Michelle Bagnall is the CEO of BankFirst, a mutual bank with 92,000 members and $4.7 billion in assets that exists to serve nurses and teachers in Australia. In this episode she tells Dexter the origin story of a bank that started with $480 in a shoebox, explains why nobody at BankFirst gets paid a bonus, and makes the case that mutuals were the original fintech startups.

00:00 Introduction
03:08 The Origins of Bank First and Peer-to-Peer Lending
05:30 Understanding Mutual Banks and Their Model
10:54 Competing with Big Banks and Neo Banks
14:24 Leadership and Culture at Bank First
21:15 Finding Passion and Purpose in Banking
31:04 Bank First's Role in Supporting Members During Economic Challenges
36:00 The Complexity of Financial Solutions and Collaboration
40:47 Opportunities at Bank First

Links
Michelle Bagnall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bagnall/
BankFirst: https://www.bankfirst.com.au
Tier One People: https://www.tieronepeople.com
Dexter Cousins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dextercousins/