(10 December 2004 – Australia) Bank of Queensland’s ambitious interstate expansion is tracking strongly with newly opened branches in NSW and Victoria performing well and attracting new customers.Speaking at BoQ’s annual general meeting, managing director David Liddy said the bank’s attempt to differentiate itself through personal service and more new customer contact points was proving successful.
“We are seeing a strong movement of customers to our new Bank of Queensland branches in New South Wales and Victoria,” he said.
BoQ has 137 branches in its home state, 14 interstate and 13 business banking centres. The bank plans to have 50 interstate branches opened by August 2005 and 100 by August 2006.
Liddy said the 2005 financial year had begun slowly due to the country’s focus on the election outcome, effects of the bank’s decision to exit mortgage brokers and its internal focus on replacing its IT system.
But he said the bank had bounced back and that November figures indicated a return to strong growth.
Liddy said the bank had stopped the decline in its margin, which had affected the bank last year, and that margins had stabilised in the first quarter of 2005.
“Importantly, we are now funding balance sheet growth 100 percent through our retails deposits,” he said.
He said BoQ was targeting asset growth of at least 1.5 times system and deposit growth in 2005.
“We will do this while maintaining credit quality, obtaining cash EPS growth of 10 to 12 percent and a cost to income ratio of 63 percent,” Liddy said.