Bendigo re-brands, expands leveraged equities business

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will simplify the branding of its margin lending arm Leveraged Equities, shortening its name to Leveraged.

Alexandra Tullio, the executive for Leveraged, said in a media release that the re-brand was "more than simply formalising what people have been calling us informally for years." The bank has announced a strategy which will see a broadening of the firm's product and service offering. Leveraged equities would be a part of a "potential multi-product strategy for the firm", according to the bank.

The business, founded by stockbroking firm Ord Minnett in 1991, was acquired by Adelaide Bank in 2000, well ahead of its merger with Bendigo Bank in 2007. The leveraged equities business may well need an overhaul, as the bank's wealth business segment has produced little in the way of profit growth in recent times.

In 2014, the profit for the wealth arm for the year, including Leveraged, was soft, down A$1.2 million to $41.5 million before tax. Profit was also flat over the most recent half year at $21.6 million.

In 2011 Bendigo and Adelaide Bank wrote down the goodwill value of its margin lending business by $95 million.