52LR Sthn.pac.42a2aa

RNS No 1604v
BENDIGO BANK LTD
27th August 1998

Letter to Company Announcements Office


              Elders, Bendigo Bank join forces to launch
                 rural financial services operation

The boards of Futuris Corporation Limited (the parent of Elders) and Bendigo
Bank Limited announced today that they have agreed to create a joint venture
which will focus on delivering more effective financial services to rural
Australia.

As Australia's only regionally-based bank, Bendigo Bank seeks to expand its
support of rural communities.  Elders, in its growing international and
diversified rural role, is looking to enhance services and financial flexibility
for its clients.

The heads of agreement was jointly announced today by Elders Managing Director
David Hills and Bendigo Bank Managing Director Rob Hunt.

"The joint venture company is an exciting and challenging progression of the
Elders rural finance business," Mr Hills said,

"Rural Australia is undergoing enormous and rapid change and although Elders
has long been a leader in the finance sector it has always operated under a
variety of limitations," he said.

The continued development of our clients' business, our industry, needs a
committed and focused finance provider.

"Through this joint venture we expect to be able to offer an enhanced range of
products and services tailored for the needs of primary producers.  The joint
venture will be a farm services and business operation more than the traditional
bricks and mortar banking branch." he says.

"The development of this company will allow us to provide competitive funding
for the needs of our clients, whether for inputs for production, to finance
retained ownership marketing programmes or buy additional assets."

"As the joint venture progresses we will be investigating many options of how it
will finally manage its business but the driving force is to make it easier for
investors to lodge deposits and to unlock financing potential for rural
industry."

Bendigo Bank's Mr Hunt believes rural Australia would welcome the development
of a specialist banking organisation dedicated to servicing the rural sector.

"Such an operation would fit both Elders' and Bendigo's strategic direction and
unique positioning," he said.

"Bendigo Bank is Australia's only regionally based bank and has demonstrated its
commitment to rural people through its Community Bank Project, providing more
certainty to funding and banking services to country communities."

Mr Hunt and Mr Hills said the two organisations would now work together to
finalise the structure of the new banking operation, which would be separately
branded.  They said the joint venture company would be built on a platform of
Elders' existing finance operation which has nearly $600 million of rural
lending on its books.

The joint venture company will focus on providing a unique new financial
service by marrying Bendigo's banking skills and established banking structure
with Elders understanding of agriculture and rural lending expertise.

Bendigo Bank currently operates 77 branches and has assets of more than $3.1
billion while Elders operates a national network of over 220 outlets delivering
a range of distribution and marketing services to its client base.  Financial
services provided by the new operation will be available through outlets of both
organisations.

Appropriate regulatory and government approval would be pursued once the final
structure of the new company was determined.

For further details contact:
David Hills, Managing Director.  Elders Limited on
08 8218 4821.

Rob Hunt, Managing Director, Bendigo Bank on
03 5433 5981.
Owen Davies, Communications Manager, Bendigo Bank on
03 5433 9866.

from Bendigo Bank

END

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