BSP Financial Group Limited is anticipating to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) soon.

Group chief executive officer Robin Fleming in a presentation said: “The group have become the largest bank in the South Pacific, a market leadership position that is underpinned by their extensive and far-reaching distribution network … a key competitive advantage in customer acquisition.

“We have consistently been a pioneer in the region in bringing financial innovation and technology to an underbanked marketplace.

“We have demonstrated an ability to consistently grow the business via acquisition and organically, significantly broadening and strengthening BSP’s geographic reach.

“However, we are not willing to rest on our success. There is much to do in the next stage of our development. Listing on the ASX is an important part of a carefully considered strategy to continue to prosper and grow the business. While ensuring we continue to deliver strong returns to shareholders and high levels of customer service.

“We anticipate listing on the ASX by way of a compliance listing before the middle of 2021,” he said.

BSP Financial Group Limited’s market strength in the South Pacific.

Why list on the ASX? 

Mr Flemming highlighted: 

• BSP has experienced significant growth over the last 20 years. BSP anticipates that there will be opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region to further BSP’s growth in the short to medium term.

However, there is a lack of liquidity and access to capital offered by the PNGX and this has begun to impose a constraint on BSP’s strategic plans.

• As a consequence of this, it has become self-evident that BSP now requires access to a larger and more diverse investor base to provide for further investment to fund BSP’s expansion plans in the Asia Pacific region.

BSP has considered various stock exchanges in the region and has formed the view that a dual listing on the ASX best meets its requirements, noting the success of other dual listed PNGX-ASX companies.

• BSP has a proven M&A capability and a track record of successful business integration, an example being the 2015 Westpac Pacific acquisition, with the forecast payback period halved and double digit ROI achieved.
• Maintain our low cost and low risk market entry strategy to gain market knowledge and experience in advance of exploring South East Asian banking opportunities.

BSP Financial Group Ltd is present in Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

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