The Bank of Queensland (branded BOQ) is an Australian
retail bank with headquarters in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
. The bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in Queensland, having begun as a building society. It now has 163 branches throughout Australia, including 53 corporate branches and 103 "owner managed" branches.
In 2021,
customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction (often abbreviated as CSAT) is a term frequently used in marketing. It is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of ...
with BOQ was rated at 82.9% by
Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan, formerly known as Roy Morgan Research, is an independent Australian social and political market research and public opinion statistics company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It operates nationally as Roy Morgan and internatio ...
. In 2007 customer satisfaction levels were placed at 88%.
The bank does not currently have any board directors who are based in Queensland.
History
A
Bank of Queensland was established in 1863. It collapsed in 1866 closing its doors in the severe financial depression known as the
Panic of 1866
The Panic of 1866 was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London, and the ''corso forzoso'' abandonment of the silver standard in Italy.
In Britain, the economic impacts are held p ...
.
Another bank took the same name in 1917 but disappeared into the
National Bank
In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings:
* a bank owned by the state
* an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally)
* in the United States, an ordinary p ...
in 1922.
The current Bank of Queensland was established in 1874 as The Brisbane Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society. It was incorporated in 1887. It amalgamated with City and Suburban Building Society in 1921 and with Queensland Deposit Bank a decade later. It remained a savings bank come building society until a trading bank licence was obtained in 1942 in the name of Brisbane Building and Banking Company.
Brisbane Building and Banking Company changed its name to Bank of Queensland (BOQ) on 1 May 1970 and was listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
in 1971. Its operations were computerised in 1970.
Bank of Queensland incorporated Bank of Queensland Savings Bank as a wholly owned
subsidiary in 1982. In 1991 BOQ acquired Stowe Electronic Switching Pty Ltd and renamed it Queensland Electronic Switching Pty Ltd.
In 1999,
Bank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii Corporation ( haw, Panakō o Hawaii; abbreviated BOH) is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that the majority of the voting sto ...
bought 5.8 m shares (approx. 10%) in Bank of Queensland. Two years later Bank of Hawaii sold its 6.2 m shares and 5.4 m convertible notes in Bank of Queensland to refocus on its operations in Hawaii.
In 2002, the Bank launched the tagline "bank different" which was to be their branding until 2011.
BOQ acquired the equipment financing business of
UFJ Bank UFJ, which stands for the United Financial of Japan, is used in the former companies of UFJ Bank, UFJ Group, and UFJ Holdings. These related institutions disappeared after the merger of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank in 2005. UFJ Bank ...
in Australia and New Zealand in 2003.
The bank also acquired ATM Solutions.
Between 2001 and 2004, BOQ accelerated its branch opening program, opening 55 new branches throughout Queensland and then branches in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, and the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...
in 2004.The following year BOQ acquired the $78 million debtor finance division of
ORIX
, styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan.
ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...
Australia. In 2006 the bank acquired Queensland-based Pioneer Permanent Building Society
with full integration completed in November 2007.
The bank opened branches in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
and
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
in 2006 and then merged with Western Australia-based Home Building Society and the Queensland-based Mackay Permanent Building Society in 2007.
In 2010, BOQ joined the
rediATM network, and purchased St Andrew's Insurance.
St Andrew's is an Australian manufacturer of consumer
credit insurance Credit insurance refers to several kinds of insurance relating to financial credit:
* Trade credit insurance, purchased by businesses to insure payment of credit ''extended by'' the business
*Payment protection insurance, purchased by consumers to ...
products. It also acquired the Australian and New Zealand divisions of CIT Group Inc,
a supplier of vendor finance to small businesses and middle market companies. In that year, BOQ launched a new slogan "Your own personal bank" which was replaced in 2013.
In 2011, the bank experienced a profit slump due to lending losses from the
2010–11 Queensland floods
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
.
In 2013 BOQ bought
Virgin Money Australia
Virgin Money Australia is an Australian financial services company owned by Bank of Queensland, and has 150,000 customers.
History Foundation
In 2003, Virgin Money was launched in Australia with the launch of Virgin Money credit cards. Virgin ...
for $40 million.
Under the deal, BOQ has rights to the Virgin Money name in Australia for four decades while paying royalties to the Virgin Group, and Virgin has a seat on the BOQ board.
BOQ launched a new branding in 2013 – “It’s possible to love a bank".
BOQ launched a new five-year five pillar strategy focused on growth and digitisation in February 2020. This included reducing some of the 220 banking products it offered and reducing processing times to counter underperformance
ME Bank purchase
In January 2021, BOQ was given approval by the
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trad ...
to purchase
ME Bank for $A1.3 billion raised through an underwritten capital raising of $A1.35 billion. Half of the Bank of Queensland's customers are in Queensland with another 30% split across New South Wales and Western Australia. One third of ME Bank's with another 47% based in New South Wales and Queensland. Combined, the group will have pro forma total assets over $88 billion, with total deposits of more than $56 billion. The ME brand will be maintained together with BOQ and Virgin Money. The purchase was approved by the
Treasurer of Australia
The Treasurer of Australia (or Federal Treasurer) is a high ranking official and senior minister of the Crown in the Government of Australia who is the head of the Ministry of the Treasury which is responsible for government expenditure and ...
in June 2021, with the sale expected to be completed on 1 July 2021.
Franchise model
The BOQ chose a franchise model as a key part of its expansion nationally across Australia in the early 2000s. Many of the bank's branches are run as franchises, under which the bank pays franchisees commissions on the loans the generate, the deposits they source and other products they retail.
BOQ calls the franchisees "Owner Managers", and selects small business owners who have strong community relationships to set up a local branch in a suburb or town. BOQ's stated aim was to offer "communities the security of a national bank combined with local know-how" and a personal banker.
The branch owner is responsible for employing and managing the branch staff and all other operating costs associated with running the business whilst operating according to BOQ's policies and procedures. BOQ is responsible for overall brand, policy, product, and operations. Owner Managers were eligible for a series of rewards including BMW car and travel vouchers.
Following the 2011 loss, the BOQ reduced its branch network which included taking control of some of the franchise branches and buying the branch owners out.
BOQ experienced a series of litigation actions between 2014 and 2016 by some franchise owners who believed that they had been unfairly treated.
Two of BOQ's Victorian franchisees sued the bank in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2014, claiming senior bank management forced them out of business. In 2013, the bank terminated the franchise agreement with the owner-managers of its Geelong West branch in Victoria and used police and security guards to prevent them entering their branch.
In 2014, BOQ won a large class action proceeding in the New South Wales Supreme Court. In this case, the Bank successfully defended claims of misleading and deceptive conduct, unconscionable conduct and negligence brought by eleven franchisees who claimed loss and damage caused by the failure of their franchise branches. In 2015, the NSW Court of Appeal rejected the claimants' appeal.
During the
, the banks franchise model was scrutinised.
In February 2020, the CEO stated that as part of a new five year strategy, that owner-manager branches would continue to be an important and growing part of the business.
Involvement with Storm Financial
In 2010, it was found that one of the
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
branches of the Bank of Queensland was
giving loans to clients of the collapsed
Storm Financial
Storm Financial Limited was a financial advice company, based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The company was founded by Emmanuel Cassimatis and his wife Julie Cassimatis as a private company initially with the name Cassimatis Securities P ...
.
[Fanning, Ellen]
"BOQ docs show problems with Storm loans"
'' 60 Minutes'', Australia, 4 June 2010. Retrieved on 6 June 2010. Australian Securities and Investments Commission undertook compensation suits on behalf of Storm Financial clients against the BOQ.
Awards
BOQ was inducted into the
Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame
In 2009 State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Library Foundation and the QUT Business School
The QUT Business School is one of six faculties at the Queensland University of Technology. It is home to the QUT Graduate School of Business, a ...
in 2014, in recognition of its excellence in providing banking services to Queensland for over a century and its continuing expansion nationally.
See also
*
Banking in Australia
Banking in Australia is dominated by four major banks: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group and National Australia Bank. There are several smaller banks with a presence throughout the country, and a large number of ...
*
List of banks in Australia
The following is the list of banks in Australia, as well as restricted ADIs, credit unions, friendly societies and subsidiaries and branches of foreign banks in Australia. Financial institutions in Australia are supervised by the Australian Pr ...
*
Financial system in Australia
The Australian financial system consists of the arrangements covering the borrowing and lending of funds and the transfer of ownership of financial claims in Australia, comprising:
* authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) or financial inst ...
References
External links
Bank of QueenslandQueensland Business Leaders Hall of FameBOQ the story behind our new marketing campaign "It's possible to love a bank"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank of Queensland
Banks of Australia
Banks established in 1863
Australian companies established in 1863
Companies based in Brisbane
Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange