Yes – in Australia, credit unions, building societies and online banks are all regulated by the same authority: the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).  This is an independent authority that supervises financial institutions across banking, insurance and superannuation.  All authorised deposit-taking institutions (known as ADIs) are backed by the Australian government’s financial savings guarantee, which guarantees up to $250,000 per person per institution in the unlikely event that it should crash in a financial crisis.