The Bank of Queensland [ASX:BOQ] has found its new Chief Executive in existing Executive Chairman Patrick Allaway.
Allaway will shift from Chairman to the bank’s new CEO on an interim basis from today until December 2024 to ensure ‘stability and continuity’ while the bank continues its search for a long-term CEO.
BOQ was rising more than 1% after the announcement, trading at around $6.47 a share mere hours afterwards.
The group has had its challenges while it works to shift through optimisation strategies in the absence of a CEO, and has dropped more than 6% in value so far in 2023:
www.TradingView.com
BOQ’s continues search for a long-term CEO
From today, the Bank of Queensland will be appointing the company’s existing Executive Chairman Patrick Allaway as Managing Director and CEO, while current non-executive Director Warwick Negus will step in as Chairman.
It allows extra time and alleviates pressure for the group to consider a wider pool of external candidates and to further develop internal candidates.
BOQ also said that placing Mr Allaway into the helm will offer some stability and continuity for the company, allowing the management team to work on delivering the bank’s core priorities of ‘strengthening, simplifying, digesting and optimising’ BOQ.
Mr Allaway offered his sentiments:
‘I am honored to serve BOQ stakeholders in my new role and to play a part in our 150-year history. I will continue to lead by living our purpose and values and to progress our work to build an even stronger and better bank for our customers, our people, and our shareholders.
‘Our focus is strong financial resilience whilst simplifying our operations and digitising for our future state. We have made material progress in strengthening our capital and liquidity position over the past six months and have maintained quality lending portfolios as we prepare for a more challenging economic environment. BOQ has several programs underway to improve the effectiveness of our control environment and organisational efficiency, building a leaner more agile and digitally enabled bank.’
Warwick Negus also expressed his gratitude as being selected for the position of Chairman, saying:
‘BOQ has a rich history and a bright future, and the Board is looking forward to supporting management in the coming years. We are focused on continuing to build a world class experience for our customers and bankers backed by a strong and resilient balance sheet.’
For FY22, the group achieved $426 million in statutory net profit after tax under previous CEO George Frazis. This was a 15% increase on FY21.
The group distributed dividends of 24 cents a share, an increase of 9% year-on-year.
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Regards,
Mahlia Stewart
For The Daily Reckoning
