Bulletin: Bank Of Queensland Well Placed To Absorb ME Bank Integration Costs

SYDNEY (S&P Global Ratings) April 15, 2021--Bank of Queensland Ltd.'s (BoQ; BBB+/Stable/A-2) improving profitability puts the bank in a good position to meet additional costs from the integration of ME Bank (BBB/CWPos/A-2) into its multibrand group over the next 12 months, S&P Global Ratings said today. The Australia-based regional bank today announced cash earnings of A$165 million for the half year ended Feb. 28, 2021, up 9% from the previous corresponding period. We expect BoQ's earnings in the next two years to have sufficient headroom to absorb costs involved in integrating ME Bank into its group operations. Low funding costs and above-system growth in recent months should support BoQ's profitability in the next year. We expect BoQ will also benefit

...April 14, 2021 SYDNEY (S&P Global Ratings) April 15, 2021--Bank of Queensland Ltd.'s (BoQ; ###+/Stable/A-2) improving profitability puts the bank in a good position to meet additional costs from the integration of ME Bank (###/CWPos/A-2) into its multibrand group over the next 12 months, S&P Global Ratings said today. The Australia-based regional bank today announced cash earnings of A$165 million for the half year ended Feb. 28, 2021, up 9% from the previous corresponding period. We expect BoQ's earnings in the next two years to have sufficient headroom to absorb costs involved in integrating ME Bank into its group operations. Low funding costs and above-system growth in recent months should support BoQ's profitability in the next year. We expect BoQ will also benefit from low credit losses relative to the one-off jump in the second half of fiscal 2020. In our view, BoQ's credit losses should stabilize close to our expected long-term historical average in the next two years. We believe...

Bulletin