K: Financial and Insurance Services

Big deals put bourse at risk of shrinking

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 29-Jan-26

MST analyst Hasan Tevfik says that several big merger proposals mean that the Australian sharemarket is risk of ‘de-equitising’ in 2026 . This occurs when the value of shares removed from the market via buybacks, takeovers and de-listings exceeds new capital raised by listed companies and via IPOs; this has not happened since 2005, when News Corporation moved its primary listing from the ASX to New York. BlueScope Steel and Qube Holdings are among the companies that are currently the subject of takeover bids, while Tevfik notes that the ASX’s equitisation would take a big hit if Rio Tinto acquires Glencore and opts to scrap its dual listing in Australia.

CORPORATES
MST MARQUEEBLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSLQUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUBRIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIOGLENCORE PLC

Risk of mortgage stress drops to lowest for three years, but rising inflation poses a risk of interest rates heading up in 2026

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 29-Jan-26

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 24.5% of mortgage holders were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to December 2025, down 3.4% points from August. This is the lowest proportion of mortgage holders ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ since January 2023. The number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 380,000 since May 2022, when the Reserve Bank of Australia began a cycle of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the number of Australians considered to be ‘Extremely At Risk’ of mortgage stress is now numbered at 830,000 (17.1% of mortgage holders); this is just above the long-term average over the last two decades of 16.3%. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, based on in-depth interviews conducted with over 60,000 Australians each year, including over 10,000 owner-occupied mortgage-holders.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITEDRESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Super funds manage 9 per cent lift over 2025

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Kirby
The Australian – Page: 13 & 14 : 21-Jan-26

Data from Chant West suggests that the average superannuation fund posted a return of about 9.3 per cent in calendar 2025; SuperRatings in turn estimates that the average return was about 8.8 per cent. This follows double-digit returns in 2024, although super funds have achieved an average return of less than seven per cent over the long-term. Mano Mohankumar from Chant West emphasises the need for super fund members to focus on long-term returns rather than the calendar year performance.

CORPORATES
CHANT WEST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD

Big four banks cash in on zero interest

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Aitchison
The Australian – Page: 13 & 14 : 21-Jan-26

Analysis by Jarden shows that customers of Australia’s four major banks hold a combined $320bn in transaction and business accounts that do not pay any interest. This equates to about 10 per cent of each of the four major banks’ total deposits, and nearly 20 per cent of the estimated $1.7trn in deposits held by all of the nation’s lenders. Jarden’s analysis also shows that the four big banks’ implied earnings from zero-interest accounts have risen sharply in recent years. Matt Wilson from Jarden says the major banks have benefited from customer loyalty and inertia in recent years; he adds that this may change in 2026, and customers may begin seeking better deals for their bank deposits.

CORPORATES
JARDEN GROUP LIMITED

Big four banks slammed over deposit deception for savings

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Aitchison
The Australian – Page: 13 & 14 : 20-Jan-26

Research published in 2023 showed that two-thirds of customers at Australia’s four major banks are not earning the maxium interest rate on savings accounts that offer bonus rates. Data released by National Australia in response to a written request from Liberal MP Aaron Violi shows that this situation has not changed since then; NAB revealed that only 34 per cent of customers with a Reward Saver account earned the advertised bonus interest rate of 4.15 per cent in the last six months. Violi has called for an end to this ‘deposit deception’ and contends that all banks should be more transparent and remove hurdles to ensure that the majority of customers with such accounts can earn the maximum bonus interest rate.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

BHP closes in on CBA’s crown as ASX king

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Cecile Lefort
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 13-Jan-26

Shares in BHP have risen by 30 per cent in the last six months, lifting its market capitalisation to $236bn. The resources giant is now just 8.5 per cent shy of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s market cap of $258bn, and a continued strong run could see it reclaim the title of the ASX’s biggest company. CBA’s shares peaked at $192 in mid-2025; Peter Gardner from Plato Investment Management believes that CBA is still a bit overvalued at its current price of about $154 per share. Meanwhile, BHP has been buoyed by strong commodity prices, which has prompted investors to rebalance their portfolios in favour of mining companies rather than banks.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, PLATO INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Festive shoppers left with $90bn debt hangover

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Cameron Micallef
The Australian – Page: 20 : 7-Jan-26

Australians’ credit card debt has increased every January since 2015. Canstar’s analysis of credit card data from the Reserve Bank suggests that consumers are likely to have spent about $86.8bn using credit cards since the start of November; based on trends over the last five years, an additional $28.9bn is likely to be spent using credit cards for the full month of January. Meanwhile, it is estimated that Australians now pay a combined $9.4m in credit card interest charges each day. Canstar notes that interest-free periods may be much shorter than the advertised length, depending on whether a purchase was made near the end of a card-holder’s billing cycle.

CORPORATES
CANSTAR PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Bankers hoping busy year will see M&A cash roll in

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Joyce Moullakis, Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 7-Jan-26

Data from Dealogic shows that $US92.8bn worth of mergers and acquisitions targeting Australian companies were announced during 2025; this eight per cent higher than in 2024, and the highest level of activity since calendar 2021. Australia-based companies in turn pursued $US11.82bn worth of deals offshore. Marissa Freund from Goldman Sachs and Tim Joyce from Macquarie Capital are amongst those who expect M&A activity to remain strong in 2026. Meanwhile, global M&A activity totalled $US5.1trn in 2025, which is 42 per cent higher year-on-year.

CORPORATES
DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD

Commonwealth Bank bows to ASIC pressure with $68m in fee refunds

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angira Bharadwaj
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-25

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has belatedly agreed to provide a partial refund to low-income customers who were charged high fees despite being eligible for low or no-fee bank accounts. A report from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission in mid-2024 found that welfare recipients had paid $270m in "excessive" fees to the CBA since 2019. ASIC also found that Westpac, Bendigo Bank and the ANZ Bank had charged excessive fees, although they agreed to provide a refund to affected customers. CBA has now advised that it will provide $68m worth of ‘goodwill’ refunds to these customers in early February; it had already paid about $25m in refunds to Indigenous customers in response to the report.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, asic use AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BENDIGO BANK, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Banks abandon plan to mothball payment system by 2030

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 17-Dec-25

AusPayNet’s chairman John Brogden has advised that it has postponed plans to decomission the Bulk Electronic Clearing System by mid-2030. Financial payments are processed in batches overnight via BECS; however, it was to be phased out in favour of the New Payments Platform, which processes such transactions in real-time. AusPayNet’s decision follows discussions with banks, large companies and government departments, which expressed concern that the NPP may not be ready to handle bulk payments by the former deadline.

CORPORATES
AUSPAYNET