BoQ reports 19 percent rise in cash profit
(8 October 2015 - Australia) Bank of Queensland (BoQ) has reported A$ 357 million in cash profit, a 19 percent rise for 2015.
The result was based on revenue of A$ 1.08 billion, up four percent, largely driven by the acquisition of Investec's A$ 2.5 billion loan portfolio last year.
Total lending rose seven percent, to a loan book of A$ 40.9 billion, led by owner-occupier home loans, which rose 12 percent, followed by investor home loans (rising by 5 percent).
The Queensland-based bank's net interest margin increased to 1.97 percent (a rise of 15 basis points).
In a statement released this week, BoQ chief executive, Jon Sutton said: "BoQ has now delivered record results for five successive halves, a significant achievement in an environment of low growth and changing regulations,"
"Though we have more work to do, particularly around returning to higher levels of asset growth, most of our key financial metrics are moving in the right direction."
Loans to businesses increased from A$ 414 million to $698 million over the last year, with growth rates rising from 6.6 percent to 7.9 percent. As competitor activity in business lending increased over the previous year, BoQ’s growth in business lending compared to the banking sector fell from 1.2 times system growth in 2014 to 0.9 times in 2015.