A former Bank of Queensland manager denied that he exaggerated the capabilities of applicants for branch franchises in New South Wales to support their applications, or that he dictated details that applicants should include in their business plans.Garry Allsopp, who was BOQ's New South Wales regional manager when the bank moved into the state, in 2004, was giving evidence in the NSW Supreme Court for the second day about his involvement in the bank's interstate expansion. A group of former NSW owner-managers has brought a claim against the bank that its expansion plan was based on superficial business analysis, overly optimistic projections that were never properly tested and a failure to acknowledge the bank's competitive disadvantages.One of the applicants, who ended up running a Sydney suburban branch, had run a team of support staff in the business banking division of a large bank. Despite this information being included in her CV, Allsopp recommended her on the basis that she was "a business banker" and would be capable of developing a network of contacts that would generate business leads for the branch.In another case, joint applicants had been bank managers some years before and had since invested in a Post Office franchise. Allsopp recommended them on the basis that, while they did not have a business network, they had community contacts. He said their business plan showed they understood what was required; they had a plan and were capable of carrying it out.Another applicant came out of commercial banking and had limited retail banking experience. Initially, the applicant was rejected on the basis that he did not have sufficient relevant business experience. He was later awarded a franchise.Allsopp said he was persuaded, during later discussions, that the applicant had the right skills.These examples raise the question of why BOQ set out to find owner-managers with appropriate retail banking experience to run its owner-manager branches but ended up choosing people with widely varying experience.Part of the bank's pleading is that some of the owner-manager branches achieved their targets and some did not, and that the targets could be met if the branches were run competently and diligentlyIt was suggested to Allsopp that he coached applicants in what to put in their business plans - that he told them there was no point putting in a business plan that showed loan sales of $4 million a month because that would not be acceptable.BOQ estimated that if a branch wrote $4 million of loans a month and banked $2 million of deposits it could be cashflow positive within eight to 12 months and profitable after a year.Allsopp said he told the applicants what the bank's models suggested they had to do, but, he said, he also told them to do their own investigations. He did not tell applicants what number to put in their budgets, he said.The owner-manager business model involved a franchise fee of $50,000 (which went up to $80,000 later), fit-out costs and an overdraft for working capital - all of which