K62 Finance

Fed urged to avoid panic with rate hike

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro, Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 10-Sep-15

The US Federal Reserve is not expected to lift the cash rate in September 2015, with financial markets pricing in a 28 per cent chance. Kaushik Basu, chief economist at the World Bank, has expressed concern that emerging markets in particular are likely to experience an increase in volatility if the US tightens monetary policy.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, WORLD BANK, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, BT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED – ASX BTT

$A overshoots as iron ore export volumes up again

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Original article by Mark Mulligan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 10-Sep-15

The Australian dollar is trading at around $US0.70, having recently fallen to $US0.6896. However, Annette Beacher of TD Securities argues that the rebound in the iron ore price means the currency should be trading at the $US0.76 level. Meanwhile, Beacher says the Reserve Bank is likely to maintain the cash rate at two per cent in the wake of the currency’s recent downturn.

CORPORATES
TD SECURITIES, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED, GROUP OF TEN (G-10)

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence down 6.6pts to 106.7

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Sep-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia fell by 6.6 points to 106.7 in the week ended 6 September 2015, reaching its lowest level since July 2014. This follows three weeks where confidence remained surprisingly resilient in the face of financial market volatility, holding up above its long-run average. However, consumers clearly remain sensitive towards bad news in Australia, notably last week’s newsflow around Australia’s weak economic growth. The subindexes on economic conditions fell by 5.7 per cent and household finances fell by 4.5 per cent.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Hartzer to slim down a higher-tech Westpac

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Original article by Clancy Yeates, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 8-Sep-15

Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer has ruled out large-scale branch closures, although he has conceded that some branches are likely to be closed as the shift toward online banking gains momentum. Hartzer has also flagged plans to increase the banking major’s investment in technology, as part of a strategy to boost overall investment by 20 per cent. Westpac will also seek to ensure that its return on equity remains above 15 per cent.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, BANK OF MELBOURNE LIMITED, BANK OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Private equity to debate scarcity of assets as deals dry up

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 7-Sep-15

A dearth of quality assets contributed to a decline in the Australian private equity industry’s share of mergers and acquisitions activity in 2014-15. Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association figures show that the sector’s share of such deals fell to around four per cent in dollar terms during 2014-15, compared with an average of 7-10 per cent in the previous four years. Experts forecast that private equity groups will increasingly make deals in partnership with superannuation funds.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED MINTER ELLISON ROC PARTNERS PTY LTD THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP ORICA LIMITED – ASX ORI KKR AND COMPANY LP KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS AND COMPANY VARDE PARTNERS INCORPORATED DEUTSCHE BANK AG GE CAPITAL AUSTRALIA BRADKEN LIMITED – ASX BKN CHAMP VENTURES PTY LTD QUADRANT PRIVATE EQUITY PTY LTD

Smaller banks continue to lead in customer satisfaction

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Sep-15

Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey has revealed that the satisfaction level of the big four banks’ personal banking customers in the six months to July 2015 was 81.3 per cent, which was up 0.8 percentage points from July 2014 (80.5 per cent). Despite this improvement, the banks other than the big four still have a clear lead with 86.0 per cent satisfaction in July 2015, which was up 0.5 percentage points from July 2014 (85.5 per cent). Among the big four banks, CBA narrowly regained top position from the NAB for overall satisfaction with 82.3 per cent (NAB 82.2 per cent). Among smaller banks, Teachers Mutual Bank remained the best performing bank overall with 95.1 per cent of its customers satisfied. It is worth noting that Bank of Melbourne (90.3 per cent satisfaction) and St George (84.5 per cent) were both clearly ahead of Westpac (80.1 per cent).

CORPORATES
MORGAN POLL, ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, TEACHERS MUTUAL BANK LIMITED, BANK OF MELBOURNE LIMITED, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED

Death puts big chill on philanthropy

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Original article by Mike Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 4-Sep-15

Research by fund manager Perpetual has found that Australians enthusiastically support charity when they are alive but rarely leave anything to charity in their wills. Only 7.5 per cent left anything to charity, compared with 89 per cent who gave while alive. This disconnect is being explored by financial advisers and lawyers ahead of Include a Charity Week, which starts on 6 September 2015.

CORPORATES
PERPETUAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, WALTER AND ELIZA HALL INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

Investor rate rises prompt owner-occupiers to switch

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Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 3-Sep-15

A growing number of home loan customers are alerting banks they have changed their status from investor to owner-occupier. While they had no incentive to do so before, banks are now charging investors higher interest rates for the first time since the 1990s. The industry says the trend may involve thousands of customers, complicating the compilation of official statistics.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, YELLOW BRICK ROAD HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX YBR, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Consolidates

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Sep-15

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia rose by 0.3 per cent to 113.3 in the week ended 30 August 2015. This is the third consecutive week where confidence has remained above its long term average. Views on "economic conditions in the next five years" were up 1.8 per cent when compared with the previous week. The outlook for "economic conditions in the next year" fell 4.9 per cent, declining to the lowest level in eight weeks. Consumers’ views of their "financial situation in the next year" rose 3.9 per cent when compared with the previous week.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Landmark case could cost Visa $20m in fines

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 2-Sep-15

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has reached a confidential settlement with Visa. The company was accused of abusing its market power. The settlement will be considered for approval by Federal Court judge Michael Wigney on 3 September 2015. Penalties of up to $A20 million are believed to be sought by the ACCC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, VISA INTERNATIONAL, FEXCO INVESTMENTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PURE COMMERCE PTY LTD, GLOBAL BLUE HOLDINGS AB, PLANET PAYMENTS, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL