Bulletin: Australia's Bank of Queensland To Tie The Knot With ME Bank

MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 22, 2021--Bank of Queensland Ltd.'s (BoQ; BBB+/Stable/A-2) planned acquisition of Members Equity Bank Ltd. (ME Bank) announced today should consolidate BoQ's competitive position through increased geographic diversity and increased scale of operations, S&P Global Ratings said today. ME Bank's footprint is more in the state of Victoria. On balance, we expect BoQ's franchise strength, market share, and pricing power post-acquisition to remain broadly similar to its regional bank peers, though significantly weaker than the major Australian banks that dominate the sector. In our view, BoQ's intent to maintain the ME Bank brand has the potential to be successful within BoQ's existing multibrand strategy. We believe each brand would have distinct target markets, including BoQ's existing

...February 21, 2021 MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 22, 2021--Bank of Queensland Ltd.'s (BoQ; ###+/Stable/A-2) planned acquisition of Members Equity Bank Ltd. (ME Bank) announced today should consolidate BoQ's competitive position through increased geographic diversity and increased scale of operations, S&P Global Ratings said today. ME Bank's footprint is more in the state of Victoria. On balance, we expect BoQ's franchise strength, market share, and pricing power post-acquisition to remain broadly similar to its regional bank peers, though significantly weaker than the major Australian banks that dominate the sector. In our view, BoQ's intent to maintain the ME Bank brand has the potential to be successful within BoQ's existing multibrand strategy. We believe each brand would have distinct target markets, including BoQ's existing retail offerings under the Virgin Money and BoQ Blue brands. BoQ's capital is likely to remain a strength to the rating because the bank plans to fund the...

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