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The Bank of Queensland (BOQ) is looking to brokers to build on their surge in profits over the past financial year, according to CEO Stuart Grimshaw.
After re-entering the broker channel earlier this year, the lender announced an impressive turnaround last week with financial year 2013 profits sitting at $250 million.
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The results come after a $17.1 million loss the year before – the first loss for an Australian bank in 20 years.
In announcing the profits, Mr Grimshaw claimed the lender was well placed to drive further revenue growth "Given our under-representation in key distribution channels such as mortgage brokers".
Speaking with The Adviser, Mr Grimshaw said brokers were a very important part of the strategy being implemented by BOQ’s new management team.
“BOQ re-entered the broker market around five months ago through a pilot program in Western Australia. The principal objective of this program was to fine tune our product and service offering by working closely with the broker community and taking on their feedback.
“We have just started accrediting brokers in NSW and plan to expand into Victoria in the near future,” he said.
Mark Haron, director at Connective, said he was a fan of the way BOQ is embracing the broker channel.
“They’ve realised that if they are going to achieve, they are going to have to use mortgage brokers,” he told The Adviser.
According to Mr Haron, many brokers still harbour bitterness toward BOQ for leaving the market in 2004.
“While I wouldn’t say that brokers have forgotten what happened, I think there’s an element of forgiveness, especially as there’s a different management team to the one that made the decision to exit the channel," he said.
“Ultimately, an increase in competition and the more lenders we have on offer will only strengthen the broker proposition.”
