United Building Society was formed from merging or purchasing the operations of a number of smaller building societies including:
Canterbury Premier Building Society
Canterbury Terminating Building Society and Bank of Deposit Building Society
Bay of Plenty Co-operative Terminating Building Society
Bay of Plenty Permanent Building Society
Canterbury Building Building Society
Eastern Co-operative Terminating Building Society
General Co-operative Terminating Building Society
Hawkes Bay Mutual Permanent Building Society also known as Hawkes Bay Permanent Building Society
Lyttleton Premier Permanent Building Society
Marac
Metropolitan Permanent Building and Investment Society
New Zealand Co-operative Terminating Building Society
Northern Co-operative Building Building Society
Northern Co-operative Terminating Building Society
Northern United Building Society
Northern United Permanent Building Society
Permanent Building Society of Invercargill
Premier Building Loan and Investment Society of Lyttleton
The Equitable Permanent Building Society
United Building Society of Hawkes Bay
Waipukurau Permanent Investment Building Society
Wellington Permanent Building Society
By 1990 the United Building Society also operated a chain of real estate agents, United Realty, which is now part of the . On 29 June 1990 United Building Society of New Zealand transformed itself into a limited liability company and was renamed United Banking Group Limited. The new company was registered as a bank with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and was purchased by the State Bank of South Australia in 1990, for NZ$150 million. The Auditor-General of South Australia stated that the price represented the total amount of capital in United Banking Group. At the time the Building Society was engaged in mortgage and commercial lending, real estate broking, retirement village development and insurance, as well as sharebroking, and was reportedly trading unprofitably. On 13 December 1990 United Banking Group Limited changed its name to United Bank Ltd and updated its registration with the Reserve Bank. The State Bank of Australia had expected to take advantage of a transaction that was to involve no net investment, 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. In 1992 the bank was sold to the Countrywide Building Society. At the time of the sale it was considered a non-performing asset, having reported a loss of $123.3M in 1991. The bank's registration was relinquished on 16 May 1994.
