E.C. Peverill from the National Bank of Australasia in Victoria was instrumental in establishing the Bank Officials' Association in 1919. The union also covered Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. In Sydney the United Bank Officers' Association was formed in the same year. By 1921 the separate state unions known as the Bank Officials' Association of South Australia and the Bank Officials' Association of Western Australia had also been formed. In 1919 K.H. Laidlaw formed the United Bank Officers' Association of Queensland. While the Bank Officials' Association in Victoria was registered federally the other unions were registered in various state courts. In 1921 the Bank Officials' Association in Victoria proposed an amalgamation of all banking unions, to be organised with a federal council and state branches. However, the UBOA of New South Wales and Queensland both rejected this proposal, partly due to Sydney Smith's (the New South Wales Secretary) fears that amalgamation would mean the loss of state autonomy. Smith planned to register federally a union of bank officers from the fast growing Commonwealth Bank and to expedite this he formed the Commonwealth Bank Branch of the UBOA of NSW. This was registered in 1921 and in 1930 the Commonwealth Bank Branch of the UBOA became a separate association, the Commonwealth Bank Officers' Association. The Bank Officials' Association in Victoria was renamed the Australian Bank Officials' Association in 1938. In 1954 it again proposed amalgamation at an interstate conference, and the UBOA again refused. The turning point came in 1958 when the NSW Industrial Court handed down a new award. Amalgamation talks began at an interstate conference in April 1960. In June 1963 Western Australia became a member followed shortly by South Australia. It was not until 1966 that the UBOA of New South Wales joined the Australian Bank Officials' Association as a Division to complete the amalgamation. The ABOA changed its name to the Australian Bank Employees' Union in 1978.