When Russell Gardiner put together his business plan for the launch of Bank of Queensland's Bathurst branch, in rural New South Wales, in 2005, he drew on advice from BOQ executives about the competitiveness of the bank's products and the branch's likely business volume and earnings.Gardiner gave evidence in the Supreme Court of New South Wales yesterday that he had a number of conversations with executives from the bank about the success of other regional NSW branches and his branch's prospects, and that he relied on that information when he was putting together his business plan.Gardiner is one of a number of former franchisees who ran owner-manager branches in New South Wales between 2004 and 2007 and who are suing the bank for misleading and deceptive conduct.They claim BOQ's decision to enter the NSW market using a franchised branch business model was based on a superficial business analysis, overly optimistic projections that were never properly tested and a failure to acknowledge the bank's competitive disadvantages.A central issue in the case is the extent to which the OMBs relied on representations from bank executives and how much of the decisions they made was based on their own business planning. In his business plan, Gardiner said he expected to write A$3 million of loans a month within several months of the branch opening. He said he got that number from his discussions with BOQ executives.However, when the bank approved his business plan, it wrote to him saying it had not tested any of his assumptions.Gardiner said the bank took a different approach in the conversations he had with its executives.Gardiner had a 15-year career with Commonwealth Bank before taking up the BOQ Bathurst franchise. During his career with the CBA he had worked as a loans officer and in human resources, and, in 2003, he was made manager of the Bathurst and Blayney branches.In that time he did not write loans but was familiar with the bank's credit criteria, through doing loan referrals and loan portfolio compliance work.Another issue in the case is the extent to which the failure of the branches was a result of BOQ not carrying out undertakings it had given the OMBs, or whether the failures were the result of the OMBs' shortcomings.Gardiner said BOQ planned to gain a competitive advantage for its OMB branches by giving the managers delegated lending authority. He said he was told that he would have the authority to approve loans worth up to $750,000.However, he was never granted this authority. He said his intention to take up delegated lending authority was written into his business plan and he mentioned it in subsequent emails to BOQ management. Simon Couper, counsel for BOQ, suggested that Gardiner had plenty of opportunity to follow through on this part of the business plan but failed to do so. Gardiner rejected this suggestion.Gardiner said several loan applications were turned down by BOQ on the grounds that the applicant had no "history" with the bank. He said this was