The long haul to bring Bank of Queensland up to at least having a shot at being competitive with its peer group is starting to pay off, according to its CEO.In yesterday's results presentation, Jon Sutton, BOQ's chief executive officer, pointed out that BOQ is very different from what it was five years ago, when it was, in his words "a monoline distributor of mortgages"."We now have Virgin Money that has delivered A$700 million of mortgage growth in a very short period of time. We have BOQ Specialist, which we acquired in 2014 when it was sending its mortgages off to other banks. We have grown that [mortgage book] from zero to $3.9 billion," Sutton said.CFO Anthony Rose also told analysts that BOQ Specialist has a strong leasing business that has been barely explored, and therefore has potential to add profitability if the declining margins on mortgages become unacceptable.Sutton further claimed that the combination of the increase in the CET1 and additional 25 basis points of capital benefits expected in the 2017/18 financial year put BOQ in the "enviable position" of considering capital management options to deliver long-term shareholder value."In response to these changes and BOQ's position, the Board has determined that returning some of this excess capital to shareholders is the most appropriate course of action at this time," the bank said in a media release.A special dividend of eight cents per ordinary share was announced by the Board, along with suspension of the dividend reinvestment plan for the final and special dividends on ordinary shares. This will be reinstated on 24 November 2017.Richard Wiles, an analyst from Morgan Stanley, asked about the special dividend, which uses up about ten bps of capital. Rose said that it was one way to access franking credits. Rose also said that the use of the special dividend was in line with their view that the ordinary dividend growth should mirror EPS growth.