BOQ Group Chairman Patrick Allaway said last week, “Today is a defining moment in the transformation of the BOQ Group. The completion of the acquisition unlocks new benefits for our shareholders, customers and people, and is a critical milestone in our multi-brand strategy to create a real alternative to the big banks,” Mr Allaway said.

Managing Director and CEO Mr George Frazis said last week, “Today is an exciting day for the BOQ Group and we are very pleased to welcome the ME Bank team to BOQ. The acquisition of ME Bank is strategically aligned and financially compelling. It further strengthens our multi-brand strategy, delivers material scale, provides portfolio diversification and enables the acceleration of the digital strategy towards a common digital Retail Bank technology platform.”

BOQ and ME Bank will continue to operate as separate Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions (ADI) in the short term with no immediate changes expected for customers of either business. The directors of BOQ will remain in their existing positions on the BOQ Board and the BOQ Board in its entirety has today replaced the Board of Directors of ME Bank (with each director of ME Bank resigning with effect from completion of the acquisition).

BOQ confirms that at the appropriate time it will seek approval from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to consolidate and transfer ME Bank’s business pursuant to the Financial Sector (Transfer and Restructure) Act 1999 (Cth), as a part of surrendering ME Bank’s ADI licence. Following such approval it is intended that ME Bank will continue as a standalone brand within the BOQ Group.

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Brendan White

Brendan White, BOQ’s Group Executive for Business Banking, Agribusiness and Financial Markets, said the acquisition will both grow and diversify BOQ’s banking footprint.

“This acquisition expands our business banking offering; delivering a leading position in the highly-valued professional banking market,” Mr White said.

“Our collaboration over recent months has highlighted the potential synergies available to our businesses as well as the extent of the cultural alignment and shared commitment to client service.”

BOQ Specialist was today unveiled as the new name for the Investec Professional Finance business, reinforcing its commitment to niche professional segments such as medical, accounting and financial adviser clients, as well as the new opportunities that may emerge by partnering with BOQ.

BOQ Specialist marked the move to BOQ by announcing they will soon be launching a new product – a specialised mortgage complete with an offset account, credit card and other tailored features.

CEO of BOQ Specialist, Barry Lanesman said the move to BOQ was an exciting evolution for the Investec Professional Finance business with the new mortgage product demonstrating the advantages of working closely with a recognised bank with the scale of BOQ.

“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 by providing a comprehensive offering for our clients,” Mr Lanesman said.

“Our experienced team, our approach and our commitment to growing long term relationships remains unchanged. We are a recognised leader in the medical, dental and accounting professions and will continue to focus on our specialist niches.”

The Asset Finance & Leasing business will merge with the existing BOQ Finance team.

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BOQ has today announced plans to launch an online share trading service in partnership with independent online broker CMC Markets Stockbroking.

The new user-friendly online share trading platform, BOQ Trading, is scheduled for launch in early 2011 and will offer CMC Markets Stockbroking’s comprehensive range of stockbroking services direct to BOQ customers via BOQ’s website and also over the phone through the CMC Markets/ BOQ Trading client services team. Services include shares, options, warrants and managed funds, all at highly competitive brokerage rates.

BOQ Managing Director and CEO David Liddy said the relationship with CMC Markets Stockbroking would allow BOQ to broaden the product range available to its customers.

“The ability to invest in shares is a popular option for families and individuals and we wanted to expand our financial products offering to meet the growing needs of our active and savvy customer base.”

“With the help of CMC Markets Stockbroking, we believe, we can now match, if not beat, the big banks on product suite, while excelling on service. It’s a great position to be in,” he said.

Mr Liddy added that CMC Markets Stockbroking appealed to BOQ because of its fully serviced stockbroking wholesale solution to help clients navigate the entire investment process.

“It was critical for us to find a solution that provided the best tools and education to make share investing easily accessible for all our customers, especially to those new to the stock market.”

“We will be working closely with CMC Markets Stockbroking over the coming months to fully develop BOQ Trading and look forward to offering the new platform to new and existing customers in the near future,” Mr Liddy said.

Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand at CMC Markets, Barry Odes, said the relationship with BOQ further strengthened CMC Markets’ presence in the wholesale stockbroking sector.

“We’re confident that we will provide the high quality level of service which BOQ is so highly regarded for and we are excited about the announcement of this partnership,” Mr Odes said.

“The flexible nature of our technology is proving to be a real draw card with existing and potential partners looking to stand out in an increasingly crowded market by diversifying the range of products and investment tools they have on offer,” Mr Odes said.

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