Ciaran Whelan

Investec Bank (Australia)  announced last Friday that its parent company Investec Holdings (Australia), has entered into a definitive agreement with Bank of Queensland (BOQ) to sell its Professional Finance business which includes its deposits business, and its Asset Finance & Leasing businesses in Australia.

The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions such as counterparty and financier consents and approval from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA).

Following the sale, the Investec Group will cease to own an ADI but will retain a significant business in Australia focussing on its core strengths across Corporate and Institutional Banking, Property Funds Management and Investment Banking.

Late last year, Investec announced it had appointed independent advisers to identify alternatives for its Professional Finance and Asset Finance & Leasing businesses.

The businesses are being sold as a going concern with a total team of over 310 people transferring to BOQ.

“The agreement with BOQ represents a significant opportunity for both the Professional Finance and Asset Finance & Leasing businesses as they pursue their next phase of growth,” said Investec CEO Ciaran Whelan.

“Investec Group remains committed to the Australian market. We have an experiencedleadership team with a focused business backed by a strong global balance sheet and parent. We are in a good position to concentrate on what we do best within our specialist niches and to demonstrate our distinctive approach.”

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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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