The Bank of Queensland is an Australian retail bank with headquarters in Brisbane, Queensland. The bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in Queensland, having begun as a building society, It now has 160 branches throughout Australia, including 65 corporate branches and 95 "owner managed" branches. In 2007, customer satisfaction with the bank was placed at 88%.
History
A Bank of Queensland was established in 1863. It collapsed in 1866 closing its doors in the severe financial depression known as the Panic of 1866. Another bank took the same name in 1917 but disappeared into the National Bank in 1922. , 1922 The history section of the website of the current Bank of Queensland only goes back as far as 1874. It claims that the Bank of Queensland was established then. The Brisbane Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society was incorporated in 1887. It amalgamated with City and Suburban Building Society in 1921 and with Queensland Deposit Bank a decade later. It remained a savings bank cum building society until a trading bank licence was obtained in 1942 in the name of Brisbane Building and Banking Company. Brisbane Building and Banking Company changed its name to Bank of Queensland on 1 May 1970 and was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1971. Its operations were computerised in 1970. Bank of Queensland incorporated Bank of Queensland Savings Bank as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1982. In 1991 BOQ acquired Stowe Electronic Switching Pty Ltd and renamed it Queensland Electronic Switching Pty Ltd. In 1999, Bank of Hawaii bought 5.8 m shares in Bank of Queensland. Two years later Bank of Hawaii sold its 6.2 m shares and 5.4 m convertible notes in Bank of Queensland to refocus on its operations in Hawaii. BOQ acquired the equipment financing business of UFJ Bank in Australia and New Zealand in 2003. The bank also acquired ATM Solutions. In 2004, BOQ opened branches in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. The following year BOQ acquired the $78 million debtor finance division of ORIX Australia. In 2006 the bank acquired Queensland-based Pioneer Permanent Building Society and opened branches in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Bank of Queensland merged with Western Australia-based Home Building Society, the Mackay Permanent Building Society and the Queensland-based Pioneer Permanent Building Society in 2007. In 2009, Citi purchased lending rights on Bank of Queensland, Suncorp, Virgin Money and borrowing wholesale deal in credit card lending acquisition bailout. Application of Citi purchasing rights made in Australian High Court. In 2010, BOQ joined the rediATM network, and purchased St Andrew's Insurance. St Andrew's is an Australian manufacturer of consumer credit insurance products. It also acquired the Australian and New Zealand divisions of CIT Group Inc, a supplier of vendor finance to small businesses and middle market companies. In 2011, the bank experienced a profit slump due to lending losses from the 2010–11 Queensland floods. In 2013 BOQ bought Virgin Money Australia for $40 million. Under the deal, BOQ has rights to the Virgin Money name in Australia for four decades while paying royalties to the Virgin Group, and Virgin has a seat on the BOQ board.
BOQ was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in 2014, in recognition of its excellence in providing banking services to Queensland for over a century and its continuing expansion nationally.
