...Outlook: Stable The stable outlook reflects S&P Global Ratings' view that the Bank of Queensland Ltd. (BoQ) has a defendable business position in the highly competitive Australian retail banking market. This position is reinforced by BoQ's successful execution of a multichannel distribution strategy over the past few years, which has reduced its geographic concentration to Queensland. The stable outlook also reflects the bank's strong capitalization, and its low-risk lending book that is dominated by housing loans supporting the bank's asset quality at a level consistent with that of the Australian banking system as a whole following several years of underperformance. In our view, BoQ's credit profile is commensurate with other regional banks operating in Australia. As a result, the current rating on BoQ is very stable with buffers across all stand-alone credit profile (SACP) factors in place, reducing the risk of a downward rating action in the next two years. Furthermore, in our view,...
