The Bank of Queensland - A Brief History

The Bank of Queensland or BOQ, as it is conveniently called, is one of the Australian state's oldest financial institution. This banks headquarters is in Brisbane. BOQ is a retail bank whose network is composed of roughly 250 branches: 152 located in Queensland, 52 situated in New South Wales, 23 in the Victorian state and 34 in Western Australia region.

From BOQ's establishment 136 years ago, it is now among the top 100 countries in Australia. By aggressively escalating using its very own distinct Owner-managed Branch model, BOQ has been able to reach a national level in 2007 and today has branches in all Australian states and territories.

In 1874, when the bank was established, BOQ was then known as The Brisbane Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society and is regarded as the foremost permanent building society conceived in Queensland. More than ten years later in 1887, the Society was incorporated and turned into a bank.

The institution was compounded with the City and Suburban Building Society in 1921, with Queensland Deposit Bank in 1931. In 1942 when it became a trading bank complete with a just received license.

Almost three decades later in 1970, the bank has been named as to what we now know, Bank of Queensland. With the new name also comes a computerized operation. After a year, this bank became publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

BOQ incorporated the Bank of Queensland Savings Bank as its fully owned subsidiary in 1982. In 1985, BOQ's first regional branches in Cairnes and Townsville were opened. Then in 1991, BOQ got hold of Stowe Electronic Switching Pty Ltd which was later renamed to Queensland Electronic Switching Pty Ltd. Approximately ten percent of BOQ's shares was purchased by the Bank of Hawaii in 1999.

During 2001, Bank of Hawaii traded its 6.2mn shares and 5.4mn convertible notes to BOQ in order to redeploy operations in Hawaii. It was in 2003 when BOQ obtained UFJ bank's equipment financing business in Australia and New Zealand along with the ATM Solutions that accounted for BOQ to have the second largest ATM network in all of Australia. Today, BOQ has 2,500 ATMs. Because of its purchase of UFJ, BOQ has been recognized as a major player in the 20 billion dollar equipment financing.

The year 2004 is the time when the bank opened additional branches in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian capital Territory. BOQ's status in the debtor financing industry is further strengthened in 2005 when the bank purchased ORIX Australia's 78 million dollars worth of debtor finance division.

2006 was the year when BOQ made a purchase of the Queensland-based Pioneer Permanent Building Society and opened branches in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. August 2007, BOQ was able to successfully bid for the Pioneer Permanent Building Society based in Mackay, with this merging, BOQ had been provided with a stable market synergy in the then growing Central and North Queensland economies. A few months later in November of 2007, a merger proposal was endorsed to BOQ by the members of the Home Building Society in Western Australia. This merger proposal was worth 592 million dollar, and through this BOQ produced some 35 additional branches in Western Australia and thus increased Bank of Queensland's national footprint.

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