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The Bank of Queensland (BoQ) is gearing up for a potential acquisition, with view of increasing its loan book.
Yesterday, BoQ chief executive David Liddy announced the company’s results for the 12 months to September and said the bank hoped to ‘build scale’ in the year ahead in order to compete with the big four.
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Suncorp is currently on the bank’s radar as a potential acquisition target.
Mr Liddy told The Australian Financial Review that a deal with Suncorp’s $2 billion lease finance portfolio was possible.
“[Suncorp] have stated it’s non-core to their business. It’s certainly core to us. So if an opportunity presented itself, we’d certainly have a look at that stuff,” he said.
According to the 2009 results, BoQ delivered a cash net profit of $187.4 million, up 21 per cent on last year.
The result was boosted by the bank’s acquisition of Home Building Society.
Moreover, the bank also managed to deliver a lift in net interest margin (NIM).
The bank’s NIM was 1.67 per cent in 2008, but fell to 1.52 per cent in the first half of 2009. Yesterday however, it was revealed that the bank had grown its NIM in the second half to 1.59 per cent.
NIMs are a core measure of a bank’s profitability and have fallen sharply in regional banks as access to wholesale funds became more difficult.
