BOQ Specialist sees surge in demand for specialist banking products from medical graduates

Specialist banking products are becoming increasingly attractive to graduate medical professionals. This is according to new data released by BOQ Specialist which shows one in five medical professional graduates now bank with the firm, reflecting the benefits of a tailored proposition and the specialist bank's long term commitment to meeting their specific needs.

BOQ Specialist - the new name for the Investec Professional Finance business acquired earlier this year – has over 20 years' experience delivering innovative banking solutions for medical professionals.

Following completion of the acquisition, the rebranded business remains true to label and focused on its core specialist niches of doctors, dentists and veterinarians as well as broader professions such as accountants and financial advisers.

The partnership with BOQ allows the specialist bank to deliver these same professionals a broader product set, with the aim of competing with the big four head-on and becoming the primary banker of choice in the professional niches it plays in.

"We have been on a journey with our clients over the past few years," said BOQ Specialist CEO Barry Lanesman. "We introduced credit cards a couple of years ago, closely followed by our everyday banking offering. Now with BOQ we have access to a balance sheet that allows us to originate mortgages, helping us deliver a competitive home loan offer for clients."

"Our holistic product set is complemented by our in-depth understanding of the professional niches we operate in, allowing us to deliver solutions where other providers would shy away."

"This is no more evident than with our offer to students; some banks may shy away from providing an overdraft or a credit limit to a graduate in their first role out of university, but we recognise the value of the professional qualification they have achieved and can see over time their earning potential makes such an offer a straight-forward choice for us."

As a specialist provider to the medical profession, BOQ Specialist invests heavily in supporting medical graduates, reflected by a tripling in market share among medical graduates in the last two years.

Last financial year BOQ Specialist signed up nearly 700 medical graduates, accounting for approximately 20% of the total medical graduates in 2013/14. Many of these graduates took up multiple products with BOQ Specialist with credit card and car loans the most popular products among graduates.

Mr Lanesman said that the firm's positive year on year growth showed BOQ Specialist's tailored and personalised approach was clearly resonating with the graduate community.

"We pride ourselves on being an expert partner for professionals from graduates through to retirees. Our expertise comes from our deep experience and knowledge of the niches we focus our attention: partnership comes from taking the time to get to know our clients individually," Mr Lanesman said.

As well as working closely with universities, BOQ Specialist has longstanding partnerships with a range of professional associations such as the regional Australian Medical Association (AMA) in NSW, ACT and QLD; The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP); the Australian Dental Association (ADA) and the Australian Veterinarian Association (AVA).

"Our goal is to be the primary banker of choice for the professional niches we operate. A key part of achieving this goal is working with the right partners," Mr Lanesman said. "We take our partnerships seriously and, as our clients are specialists, so too is our team, who are committed to understanding our clients individually and delivering tailored solutions that work for them."