(9 August 2011 – Australia) Speculation that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank were planning to merge with Bank of Queensland (BoQ) was quashed this week by Bendigo chief executive Mike Hurst.Mr Hurst said Queensland was a tough market with two regional banks (Suncorp and BoQ) “of good size”.
“I think there will be consolidation in the industry, but I think it will be at the lower end rather than the regional banking end,” Mr Hirst said.
“If there are opportunities to participate, we’d welcome that.”
The Bendigo chief said the 2011 result had been achieved in a challenging market, but the bank had enjoyed “extremely strong” deposit inflows and lending demand from its customers.