In a statement last week, BOQ announced it finalised its acquisition of Investec Australia Bank’s professional finance, asset finance and leasing businesses which it commenced in April this year.
BOQ Specialist chief executive Barry Lanesman explained the move of the Investec Professional Finance business to BOQ is an evolution for the business.
“Our established banking infrastructure and specialist expertise combined with BOQ’s increased scale and banking experience puts us in a strong position to expand our proposition and significantly grow our business,” said Mr Lanesman.
BOQ Specialist also said it will operate as a separate division of BOQ’s Business Bank with a focus on providing a holistic banking offer for specialised professional segments, such as accountants and financial advisers.
BOQ now owns Investec’s professional finance business, which has a loan portfolio of $2.2 billion as of 31 March 2014.
It also owns Investec’s asset finance and leasing which serves approximately 14,000 customers and has a $173 million on-balance sheet lending portfolio as of 31 March 2014; and it will take ownership of Investec’s deposit book which includes $2.7 billion of deposits.
BOQ managing director and chief executive Stuart Grimshaw said the acquisition is a strong fit with its four strategic pillars and will bring “diversification and scale benefits”.
“The acquisition provides BOQ with a leading position in attractive segments and materially increases the size and footprint of our business bank, providing further diversification by geography and industry sector,” said Mr Grimshaw.
