Ann: BOQ Starts Search for New Chief Executive Officer, page-40

Oh, I see you're coming from the Ben angle, not the boq one. You are a Ben holder, not boq, and perhaps should've posted this on the Ben thread.
From the Ben perspective I agree with you. I have an account with Ben and the culture is very different from all other banks, more personal. This builds very good customer loyalty.
From the boq perspective, I see it's looking to expand its base from being a local Qld bank n banks are now going through a challenging environment all round. It's not just an issue of fitting in digitally or with staff. The main challenge is keeping deposits growing in an increasingly high interest rate ( cash-shrinking) economy. From that perspective, the merger may not be a bad move for boq.