Bank of Queensland (BOQ) believes it has weathered the global financial crisis in good shape, reporting a 15 per cent increase in net profit after tax to $97.2 million for the half-year to the end of February.
Commenting on the result, the bank’s managing director, David Liddy, said BOQ was in a far stronger position than it had been at the start of the global financial crisis.
He said that while, as previously indicated, bad debts had increased during the first half of the current financial year, the position was both improving and had become more stable.
Liddy said the bank was delivering on its strategy of reducing capital intensity and increasing margins through complementary acquisitions with the recent agreement to purchase St Andrew’s Insurance (Australia) Pty Ltd and St Andrew’s Life Insurance and the bank’s ongoing review of merger and acquisition opportunities as they arose.
“As previously announced, we are in exclusive discussions with CIT Group Australia and New Zealand regarding the purchase of their vendor finance business,” he said.
