K62 Finance

Commonwealth Bank fined a record $3.55m for breaching spam laws with millions of emails

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Original article by Josh Taylor
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Jun-23

The Australian Communications & Media Authority has ordered the nation’s biggest bank to pay a record penalty for breaching the Spam Act. The Commonwealth Bank has been fined $3.55m for sending 65 million unsolicited emails to customers; the bulk of them required customers to log in to their account in order to unsubscribe, which is prohibited under the legislation that took effect in 2021. The bank has also agreed to a three-year court-enforceable undertaking to independently review its online marketing practices and staff training.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY

Mortgage stress increases to its highest since August 2008 with 27.8% of mortgage holders now At Risk

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Jun-23

New research from Roy Morgan shows that an estimated 1.38 million mortgage holders (27.8%) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to April 2023. This period encompassed two interest rate increases of 0.25%, taking official interest rates to 3.6% in April. This is the highest number of mortgage holders considered ‘At Risk’ since August 2008, when more than 1.4 million were ‘At Risk’. The proportion of mortgage holders considered ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress is now the highest since October 2011 (28.3%). The number of Australians who are ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 529,000 over the last year. However, despite the sharp increase in the level of mortgage stress during the last year the overall number remains below the high reached during the Global Financial Crisis in early 2009 of 35.6% (1,455,000 mortgage holders). Meanwhile, the number of mortgage holders considered to be ‘Extremely At Risk’ has increased to 881,000 (18.5%), which is significantly above the long-term average over the last 15 years of 661,000 (15.9%). 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 LIMITED

New Zealanders are increasingly worried about interest rates as RBNZ raises rates to 14-year highs

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-May-23

The latest Roy Morgan research into the attitudes of New Zealanders towards the level of interest rates shows that the Reserve Bank of NZ’s record 11 rate rises in 18 months are clearly having an impact. Some 54.1% of New Zealanders were worried about interest rates in the year to December 2022, compared with just 34.6% in the year to June 2021. The rapid series of interest rate increases since late 2021 is hitting New Zealanders with a mortgage harder than anyone else; 63.3% of New Zealanders who are paying off their home loan say they are ‘worried about interest rates at the moment’, up from 23.1% in June 2021. Concern about interest rates has increased for renters and home owners as well, but at a much lower rate. Now around half of renters (50.1%) and home owners (49.2%) say they are worried about interest rates.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Twin RBA rate rises may be on horizon

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 19-Apr-23

Morgan Stanley believes that the strength of the domestic economy means that the Reserve Bank of Australia may increase the cash rate by 25 basis points in both August and September. Shares in retail and property-related stocks have risen in recent weeks amid speculation that the RBA’s monetary policy tightening cycle may have ended following the pause in April. However, Morgan Stanley cautions that the rebound may be premature, given that inflation remains high and the official unemployment rate is steady at 3.5 per cent.

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MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Apple Pay set to overtake Afterpay in usage in 2023

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Apr-23

The latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report shows that Afterpay is now used by over 3.3 million Australians (15.6% of the population). It is just ahead of Apple Pay, which is now used by over 3.2 million Australians (15.2%). However, current trends show that Apple Pay is poised to overtake Afterpay in the next few months. Apple Pay has increased its usage in the local market significantly from a year ago, up from 11.1% of Australians in February 2022, an increase of 4.1% points in a year. In contrast, usage of Afterpay has increased from 14.1% of Australians a year ago to 15.6%, an increase of just 1.5% points in a year. These new digital payment findings are from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s leading consumer survey, derived from in-depth interviews with around 60,000 Australians annually.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AFTERPAY LIMITED, APPLE PAY

Big banks to miss future facing mining boom

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Original article by Elouise Fowler
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 5-Apr-23

Tribeca Investment Partners portfolio manager John Stover says Australia’s major banks are not prepared for the new commodities boom that is being driven by critical minerals. The four major banks’ combined lending to the resources sector peaked at $64.7bn in 2015, but data from Bridgend Capital Advisory shows that this has since fallen by $25bn. Stover notes that many banks significantly reduced their mining and resources teams when the last commodities boom ended; this has left them with a dearth of skills, particularly with regard to commodities that will be vital to the transition to a low-carbon economy.

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TRIBECA INVESTMENT PARTNERS PTY LTD, BRIDGEND CAPITAL ADVISORY

Two more rate hikes on the way, tips NAB chief

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 15 & 19 : 15-Mar-23

National Australia Bank CEO Ross McEwan says the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank will have little or no direct impact on NAB’s customers. However, he has acknowledged that the NAB Ventures unit has invested in five small fintech start-ups that have links to SVB. McEwan adds that the rapid demise of SVB underlines the value of Australia’s strong regulatory regime for the banking sector. Meanwhile, McEwan believes that SVB’s collapse will not deter the Reserve Bank from increasing official interest rates another two times in order to curb inflation. NAB still expects the cash rate to peak at 4.1 per cent.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, SILICON VALLEY BANK, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Openpay not the last BNPL failure

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 15 : 8-Feb-23

Splitit CEO Nandan Sheth warns that more ‘buy now, pay later’ providers are likely to collapse, after Openpay was placed in the hands of receivers from McGrathNicol. Sheth contends that Openpay’s business model was "fundamentally flawed", and he is not surprised about the company’s demise. He notes that many BNPL providers focus on subprime consumers who may not have credit; he adds that Splitit uses a customer’s existing credit from a credit card issuer, while it deals with merchants rather than consumers. Openpay has retrenched about 80 employees and shut down its platform, and McGrathNicol is seeking a buyer for the company.

CORPORATES
OPENPAY GROUP LIMITED – ASX OPY, McGRATH NICOL AND PARTNERS SERVICES PTY LTD, SPLITIT PAYMENTS LIMITED – ASX SPT

Openpay collapses, shuts down platform as shares suspended

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 7-Feb-23

Barry Kogan, Jonathan Henry and Rob Smith from McGrathNicol have been appointed as receivers and managers of Openpay. The ‘buy now, pay later’ provider has advised that customers will now longer be able to use its platform to make new purchases, although they must pay all outstanding balances. Openpay listed on the Australian sharemarket in 2019 following an IPO that raised $50m. Josh Gilbert of trading platform eToro says the BNPL sector has gone from "hero to zero" among investors in recent months. Rival BNPL provider Laybuy recently announced that it will delist.

CORPORATES
OPENPAY GROUP LIMITED – ASX OPY, McGRATH NICOL AND PARTNERS SERVICES PTY LTD, ETORO, LAYBUY GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LBY

Cost of living crisis drives vulnerable Australians to buy now, pay later schemes, consumer groups say

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Original article by Jordyn Beazley
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 25-Jan-23

‘Buy now, pay later’ providers are continuing to attract scrutiny, amid a growing push for greater regulation of the sector. The federal government outlined three potential options in late 2022 for regulating the sector, but consumer groups contend that regulating BNPL as traditional credit products is the only one of the options that would provide sufficient protection for consumers. Shungu Patsika from the National Debt helpline says the number of people with BNPL debts has risen significantly since Christmas; he notes that in the past it was mainly welfare recipients who contact the service for help, but a growing number of people with jobs are also doing so.

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