Bank of Queensland has posted a record statutory profit result for the year to 31 August 2014. The financial year also saw the non-major increase its home lending, despite the fierce competition from the major banks.
The lender recorded a statutory profit after tax of $260.5 million, a massive increase of 40% from last year. The results also saw housing lending increase 1% over the year, clocking in at $26.3 billion.
Jon Sutton, acting chief executive of BOQ said its retail position was affected by teething issues in some markets – BOQ recently returned to the broker channel – but he is still pleased with the bank’s approach to growth.
“In a low retail credit growth environment, we’ve maintained our disciplined approach to growth. We’re not prepared to join the race to the bottom on pricing,” he said.
“Our retail growth has also been impacted by our overweight position in Queensland, which is growing at around half the rate of the broader system.”
Since returning to the broker market about 18 months ago, BOQ now has 1,300 accredited brokers on their side. National mortgage franchise
Loan Market yesterday announced the addition of BOQ to its lending panel, and Jamin Smith, head of media and corporate communication at BOQ, told
Australian Broker that this year’s results have proven how important the expansion into the broker market is to the lender's business.
“Over 40% of mortgage lending originates from brokers, so brokers are hugely important to us at Bank of Queensland. Our accredited broker partners accounted for 14% of our growth in housing lending this year.”
Smith said the non-major lender has plans to further invest in its third party channel over the coming year.
“We have just started accrediting more brokers in Queensland, which we will continue to increase over the coming year. We also want to increase our accredited brokers in other states, such as New South Wales and Victoria," he told
Australia Broker.
“There are also plans to invest into digitising our back office processes so our brokers can benefit from greater efficiency. We have just been cautious about expanding too quickly, because we want to be prepared for growth and do it right, but we do have lots of plans to invest in our third party channel.”
