Author: roymorgansocial

Banks urged to slash branches to offset rising costs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 19 : 8-Oct-18

Morgan Stanley argues that Australia’s major banks could generate significant savings by closing bank branches and placing greater emphasis on mobile banking. This is one of four scenarios outlined in a new report; however, Morgan Stanley notes that banks are unlikely to significantly reduce the cost of their networks in the next year, given that the sector is under scrutiny at present. Morgan Stanley adds that the major banks could potentially generate large savings by reviewing their multibrand strategies.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Nation’s economic success little more than good luck

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Uren, Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 8-Oct-18

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott argues that the nation’s GDP growth is primarily due to factors such as population growth, consumption and government spending, rather than productivity gains. She notes that productivity growth has fallen to its lowest levels since the 1970s, and she has stressed the risks facing the domestic economy. Westacott and Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson have both highlighted the federal government’s failure to deliver on policies such as the national energy guarantee and company tax cuts.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Ten lines up rebrand ahead of upfronts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 8-Oct-18

The Ten Network is expected to release details of its strategy under new owner CBS Corporation at its annual "upfronts" on 31 October. Ten is preparing an overhaul of its branding, which is said to include minor changes to its logo and a repositioning of its digital channels with a view to targeting specific audiences. The network will also launch its Ten All Access subscription video-on-demand service later in 2018, while Ten is also establishing an in-house advertising sales team.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, CBS CORPORATION, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MULTI CHANNEL NETWORK PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Unemployment down to 9.4% in September off two-year high

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

A Roy Morgan survey shows that 12,164,000 Australians were employed in September, up 192,000 over the past year. The increase was driven by equivalent increases in full-time employment (which was up 97,000 to 7,694,000) and part-time employment (up 95,000 to a record 4,470,000). The figures also show that 1,256,000 Australians (9.4% of the workforce) were unemployed in September, an increase of 54,000 on a year ago (up 0.3%). In addition, 1,127,000 Australians (8.4% of the workforce) were under-employed, working part-time and looking for more work, a fall of 169,000 in a year (down 1.4%). In total 2,383,000 Australians (17.8% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in September, a fall of 115,000 in a year (down 1.1%). Roy Morgan’s real unemployment figure of 9.4% for September remains substantially higher than the current ABS estimate for August of 5.3%. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says total unemployment and under-employment in Australia has now exceeded 2 million for three straight years. As we have noted previously, the persistent high level of unemployment and under-employment is not because jobs aren’t being created, but because the workforce continues to grow at a faster rate than the growth in employment.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

How local producers survived the Netflix streaming tsunami

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Justin Burke
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 8-Oct-18

The growth of subscription video-on-demand services in Australia has prompted local TV production companies to embrace co-productions. Fremantle Australia CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor says such deals will ensure that the local market remains viable. The ABC in particular has embraced SVOD co-productions, and it now makes a number of shows in partnership with Netflix. Meanwhile, Netflix will launch its first original Australian production in late 2018. Data from Roy Morgan shows that 10 million Australians now have access to Netflix at home, an increase of 30 per cent in the last 12 months.

CORPORATES
FREMANTLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), CORDELL JIGSAW ZAPRUDER

Business Confidence in September rebounds after leadership instability

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

In Australia, Business Confidence rose 1.3pts (+1.2%) to 111.5 in September 2018, according to the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey. Business Confidence had improved in early August before plunging late in the month following the Liberal leadership instability. Business Confidence remains 1.7pts below its level in September 2017 and 4.7pts below its long-term average of 116.2. However, Business Confidence so far during 2018 has averaged 116.0, the highest yearly average since 2014. Businesses remain largely positive, with 51% (up 0.5ppts) expecting "good times" for the Australian economy over the next five years and 48.2% (up 0.4ppts) saying now is a "good time to invest in growing the business". Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that analysing Business Confidence by State shows that falls in Business Confidence in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland have driven the overall figure down compared to a year ago. Importantly, both Victoria and New South Wales face State elections during the next six months.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Virgin Mobile goes out on top with second monthly award in 2018

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

Virgin Mobile has won the Roy Morgan Mobile Phone Service Provider Monthly Customer Satisfaction Award for August, with a customer satisfaction rating of 88%. Virgin Mobile jumped ahead of ALDImobile on 84% to claim its second award for the year. Virgin Mobile and ALDImobile have increased their customer satisfaction by 12% and 14% respectively over the last 12 months. Both Virgin Mobile and ALDImobile have achieved multiple victories in the Mobile Phone Service Provider category in 2018 and are the leading contenders to take out the annual award. Virgin Mobile is not itself a network provider but rather a Mobile Virtual Network Operator which utilises the underlying Optus mobile network to provide its service. When it comes to the underlying mobile networks, the Optus network with an overall customer satisfaction rating of 78% is narrowly ahead of both the Vodafone network on 77% and the Telstra network on 75%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, VIRGIN MOBILE (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ALDIMOBILE, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

CBA the most popular bank with wealthiest 10% of Australians

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

New research from Roy Morgan shows that the CBA is the clear leader when it comes to banks used by the wealthiest 10% (top decile) of the population, with more than a third (36.7%) being customers. This segment is particularly significant as identified in the "Roy Morgan Wealth Report", which shows that the top decile accounts for 48.3% of Australian households’ net wealth. The big four dominate when it comes to the banks used by the wealthiest 10% of Australians. Individuals in this important segment generally deal with more than one bank, but the banks with the highest penetration are CBA (36.7%), Westpac (25.7%), ANZ (23.7%) and NAB (22.5%). A number of smaller banks have much higher customer penetration in this segment compared to what they have in the total population, including St George (11.3%), ING (7.6%), Macquarie (4.9%) and Citibank (3.9%). These are the latest results from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, which is based on in-depth personal interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 Australians per annum in their own homes, including over 5,000 of the wealthiest 10%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CITIBANK LIMITED

Bank cross-selling less successful than widely believed

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

Australian banks’ over-reliance on cross-selling to boost revenue may have been over-stated, according to the latest "share of wallet" data published in the Roy Morgan Banking & Finance Industry Currency Report. The report found that most major banks’ "share of customer wallet" has declined over the past four years, with National Australia Bank Group slipping 3.7 percentage points to 29.5%, CBA losing 2.6 percentage points to sit at 31%, ANZ Group sliding 1.1 percentage points to 27.7% and Westpac down 0.9 percentage points to 28.3%. While there is no doubt the Royal Commission has exposed serious problems in the selling practices of banks, the share of wallet trend highlights increased competition across a number of product categories. The Banking and Finance Industry Currency Report is compiled using data from more than 250,000 in-depth face-to-face, in-home interviews.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Board ordered inquiry before Guthrie’s firing

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 5-Oct-18

The ABC board has advised it decided on 23 September to hire an external adviser to investigate claims raised by then MD Michelle Guthrie against then chairman Justin Milne. Guthrie was sacked on the day after its decision, while Milne resigned a few days later. Guthrie claims that Milne had tried to pressure her to sack journalists because they had upset the federal government. It is understood that the external adviser has not yet been in contact with Guthrie, while the board has stated that as the investigation is ongoing that it will not comment further on the matter.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION