Bank of Queensland surprises with profit announcement

The bank has released its latest results

Bank of Queensland surprises with profit announcement

Brisbane based Bank of Queensland may have had a poor first half of 2020, but 2021 has seen an impressive jump in profits – with statutory net profits leaping to $154 million – 66% up on the previous year.

While the figure is slightly down on Goldman Sachs’ estimates of $164 million, this is an impressive leap, and has allowed the lender to declare a fully franked dividend of 17c.

“In the first half of our 2021 financial year, the BOQ Group has produced another strong performance and is building momentum, demonstrated by an uplift in statutory profit and cash earnings,” BoQ chief executive and managing director George Frazis said in a statement to the ASX.

“Our Home Buying Transformation Program has resulted in application volumes increasing significantly and we have maintained good ‘time to conditional yes’ despite the increased volumes. This has seen our housing loan growth accelerating.”

BoQ, which announced the purchase of ME Bank a few months ago, is one of Queensland’s oldest financial institutions and has 159 branches within its network.