Bank of Queensland's bid to bring its underperforming home loan business back to system growth remains a work in progress, with the bank growing its mortgage book by just 0.8 per cent over the 12 months to August, compared with industry average growth of 6.6 per cent.The bank reported 40 per cent growth in net profit for the year to August, but much of the discussion at yesterday's results briefing was about what it is doing to turn its mortgage business around.The bank has previously stated that it would not compete on price with the more aggressive lenders in the market. Instead, it is investing in broker distribution, improving the skills base in its owner-manager branch network, diversifying distribution through acquisitions such as Virgin Money and Investec, and building a digital mortgage platform.BOQ acting chief executive, Jon Sutton (pictured, left, with CFO Anthony Rose), made it clear that the strategy was still some way from completion.  The bank's current mortgage origination process is still based on manual systems.The bank is aiming to have a pilot of its digital lending platform operating by April next year.Because its systems are paper based the bank is very "resource dependent" (it needs to add staff to support growth) and this has limited its capacity to develop new products for Virgin Money. Sutton said of the development of Virgin Money: "It has taken us longer than expected, given the limitations on our system. We will keep working at it."The branch network is in the midst of an overhaul. Fifty per cent of the managers of the bank-owned branches are "new to the bank" and underperforming owner-manager branches are being closed down. Branch numbers fell by 18 during the year.Loan settlements in the owner-manager networks in Victoria and New South Wales were down. The best results to date are coming from its move into broker sales. Sutton said BOQ was working with four aggregator groups and 1200 brokers. "We had zero 18 months ago," he said.The bank aims to be selling through 2500 accredited brokers by the end of 2015.Sutton said brokers were looking for more lenders on their panels. BOQ is doing good business with its Clear Path loan, which is a low rate, low fee product."We are making incremental gains in our volumes through broker sales," he said.One benefit of low loan growth is that the bank has not been under any pressure to raise funds and has been able to adjust its deposit mix to improve its margin.Growth in the net interest margin from 169 basis points to 182 bps was the biggest factor in the bank's improved performance. Net profit rose from A$185.8 million to $260.5 million.Cash profit rose 20 per cent, from $250.9 million to $301.2 million.The bank's cost to income ratio fell from 44.3 per cent to 43.9 per cent, although it rose a little in the second half of the year.BOQ's return on equity was 10.4 per cent, compared with 9.4 per cent in 2012/13.The bad debt charge fell