Author: roymorgansocial

Contractor stuns AMP with identity data theft

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Original article by James Frost, Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 8-Feb-19

Former AMP contractor Yi Zheng has pleaded guilty to possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence. Police records reveal that he downloaded 20 identity documents one morning in October when working at AMP’s Kent Street office in Sydney, then sent them to his home email account before deleting them from his desktop. After AMP’s security system revealed that Zheng had downloaded a dark-web browser onto his AMP laptop, the laptop was taken from him and he was escorted from the building. He was later arrested at Sydney Airport when trying to flee to China. Zheng will be sentenced on 21 March.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

NAB in turmoil as duo exit

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis, Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 8-Feb-19

Phil Chronican will become acting CEO of National Australia Bank after Andrew Thorburn advised that he will step down on 28 February. Chairman Ken Henry will also step down when a permanent CEO is appointed. Thorburn and Henry in particular had attracted criticism in the financial services royal commission’s final report over their reluctance to accept responsibility for the misconduct that was exposed by the inquiry. Some fund managers expect NAB to choose an external candidate to replace Thorburn, although Mike Baird and Anthony Healy are said to be among the internal contenders.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, COMMONWEALTH AGRICULTURAL BUREAU INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SUPERANNUATION INVESTORS INCORPORATED, THE HUMAN GROUP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Lowe shortens the odds for a Cup Day cut

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 8-Feb-19

A growing number of economists expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to reduce the cash rate by the end of 2019, although the general consensus is that interest rates will remain on hold. Meanwhile, financial market traders have priced in a 56 per cent chance of a rate cut by November, compared with just 34 per cent two days ago. UBS now expects the cash rate to be reduced by 25 basis points in November, with a further rate cut in the first half of 2020. However, the Commonwealth Bank expects the next movement in the cash rate to be up, in November 2020.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX

Magazine readership continues to increase

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-19

Roy Morgan has released the Australian Magazine Readership report for the 12 months to December 2018. A total of 15,189,000 Australians aged 14+ (74.2 per cent) now read magazines, whether in print or online either via the web or an app. This is up 1.2 per cent from a year ago. Readership of print magazines is just under 12.6 million Australians (61.5 per cent), up 0.2 per cent from a year ago. Nine of Australia’s top 15 magazines grew their print readership over the past year, with six of the leading titles growing their readership by at least five per cent. ‘Women’s Weekly’ is now Australia’s most widely-read paid magazine after growing readership by 5.1 per cent to 1,570,000 in 2018. However, the free ‘Coles Magazine’ remains the most widely-read print magazine, with an average readership of 4,806,000 per issue (up 15.8 per cent).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Over 15.7 million Australians read newspapers in print or online

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-19

Roy Morgan has released the latest readership results for Australian newspapers, for the 12 months to December 2018. Over 15.7 million Australians aged 14+ (76.9%) now read or access newspapers in an average seven-day period via print or online, a fall of 1.3 per cent from a year ago. Although most leading newspapers had a decline in total cross-platform readership, the ‘Herald Sun’ grew its digital audience to over two million; ‘The Australian Financial Review’ also increased its digital audience over the last year, up by 1.2 per cent to 1,169,000. ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ is still Australia’s most widely-read masthead, with a cross-platform audience of 4,135,000, down 2.8 per cent from a year ago. Meanwhile, ‘Good Weekend’ remains Australia’s most widely-read newspaper inserted magazine, with print readership of 1,045,000 (down 12.8 per cent).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Finance Royal Commission likely to disrupt distribution of financial products

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-19

Financial intermediaries (including mortgage brokers and financial planners) currently account for the distribution of 35% of the total value of the major financial products. A number of the recommendations of the Financial Services Royal Commission relate to mortgage brokers and financial planners and if adopted, are likely to negatively impact their usage, particularly as it relates to borrowers rather than the lenders paying fees. Financial planners are also likely to be impacted by the need for greater fee disclosure, clarification of independence, improved focus on the best interests of the customer and the need to provide service for any fee involved. These are some of the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey in the 12 months to August 2018, which is based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes, including detailed questioning across all aspects of investing, borrowing, insurance and banking.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Phelps bill a security risk: ASIO

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Feb-19

The federal government has received advice from intelligence agencies that a bill to allow asylum seekers to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment would undermine its border protection policy. The classified briefing warns that the offshore processing of asylum-seekers would be in doubt if the bill proposed by independent MP Kerryn Phelps is passed. Labor and the Greens intend to support the bill, while Bob Katter is the only independent MP to have declared his intention to vote against it.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN BORDER FORCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Energy chief lashes dangerous bill

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Feb-19

A Senate committee has been told that a bill to force the divestment of energy assets would create greater uncertainty in the electricity sector. EnergyAustralia MD Catherine Tanna has told the committee that the bill was poorly drafted and there had been insufficient consultation. Frontier Economics has warned of the proposed divestment powers’ impact on investment in the electricity sector. However, others have argued that the reforms are necessary to curb the market power of large vertically integrated electricity suppliers.

CORPORATES
ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FRONTIER ECONOMICS PTY LTD, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY REGULATOR, SIMEC ENERGY

Housing lot defaults hit 25 per cent as finance hard to secure

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 7-Feb-19

Satterley Property Group CEO Nigel Satterley says the default rate among buyers of housing lots in Melbourne is now 20 to 25 per cent, compared with just five per cent in late 2017. He adds that Perth and Sydney boast default rates of around 35 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. Satterley attributes the high level of defaults to factors such as tightened access to credit for both local and overseas buyers. Simonds Group CEO Kelvin Ryan notes that there has been a spike in the number of housing lots that are been offered for sale on the secondary market.

CORPORATES
THE SATTERLEY PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD, SIMONDS GROUP LIMITED – ASX SIO, OLIVER HUME REAL ESTATE GROUP PTY LTD, RED23 PTY LTD, GUMTREE.COM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Incomes lagging rise in cost of living

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 4 : 7-Feb-19

The Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research & Methods estimates that household income has increased by 8.5 per cent over the last three years. However, the increase in the cost of living over this period means that real income per person has fallen by 2.9 per cent. The analysis also shows that so-called bracket creep saw personal income tax payments rise by 20 per cent to $57.4bn over the three years to 2018, while total disposable income increased by just 7.1 per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH AND METHODS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY