Broker slams BOQ and its CEO hire
Evans & Partners has slammed Bank of Queensland in a review of its 2018/19 financial report, released last week, and questioned whether recently appointed chief executive George Frazis is the right person for the job.In a commentary titled "Transform or Die", Evans & Partners analyst Matt Wilson said he expected the bank's share price to fall from its current level around A$9 to $8.Wilson said: "BOQ requires radical change. Yet we suspect it will receive the vanilla major bank revamp with some simplification, investment in digital capability and refinement of fulfilment processes."We think a small regional bank largely manned by executives from the [bank] oligopolies will struggle. The mindset is simply not right - more accustomed to defending rather than attacking."Its competitors are no longer the old banks, but rather the new legacy-free fintech offerings, which are sharper, better platformed customer-oriented enterprises that deliver more than a means to acquire shelter."It said low rates would crunch the bank's margin and return on equity, the bank would continue to lose share to competitors and that it would have to spend heavily on technology.BOQ made a net profit of $298 million in the year to August - down 11 per cent on the 2017/18 result. Cash earnings were down 14 per cent to $320 million.Net interest income was unchanged at $961 million and non-interest income fell 12 per cent to $128 million. The net interest margin fell five basis points to 1.93 per cent. Return on equity fell 120 bps to 7.7 per cent (8.3 per cent on a cash basis).Frazis said areas needing attention include weak retail banking performance, slow and complex lending processes, high operating costs and the "digital gap between BOQ and peers".