K62 Finance

AMP and ASIC added to banking royal commission hit list

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 4-Apr-18

Financial advice will be the focus of the banking royal commission’s second round of public hearings, which will commence on 9 April. While the four major banks are likely to attract further scrutiny, AMP and its subsidiaries have also been asked to appear before the inquiry, along with officials from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and industry bodies such as the Financial Planning Association of Australia and the Association of Financial Advisers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FINANCIAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ASSOCIATION OF FINANCIAL ADVISERS LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED, COUNT FINANCIAL LIMITED, DOVER GROUP, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, RI ADVICE GROUP PTY LTD, MILLENNIUM 3 PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Regional banks seek level playing field

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 45 & 50 : 29-Mar-18

The Productivity Commission has received a joint submission from six regional banks in which they call for regulatory reforms to ensure that they remain competitive against larger rivals. Amongst other things, they have argued that the Federal Government’s implicit guarantee to bail out the "big four" in the event of a financial crisis gives them a competitive advantage when seeking funding via wholesale debt markets. The regional banks have also called for changes to the policy that requires them to have higher levels of capital for loans that have an equivalent risk.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, AMP BANK LIMITED, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, ME BANK, MYSTATE LIMITED – ASX MYS, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

NAB investors kept in dark

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sarah Danckert
The Age – Page: 23 : 28-Mar-18

National Australia Bank’s 2017 annual report included a contingent liability for measures aimed at ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering laws. However, the minutes of NAB’s risk committee meeting in November 2015 show that the bank was dealing with issues of non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws that had been identified by Austrac in an on-site compliance assessment in April of that year.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Hirst calls for fair play at the top

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 18 : 27-Mar-18

Bendigo & Adelaide Bank veteran Marnie Baker will replace outgoing CEO Mike Hirst on 2 July. Baker is currently the chief customer officer, and she has held a number of roles at the regional bank since joining it in 1989. She says Bendigo’s focus on trust and fairness is a key strength given the negative sentiment toward the banking sector in general at present. Meanwhile, Hirst has criticised regulators over the lack of a level playing field for smaller banks, arguing that it has hindered Bendigo’s growth.

CORPORATES
BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

New CBA chief executes purge of the Narev executive old guard

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 27-Mar-18

The Commonwealth Bank has made further changes to its executive team as it transitions from Ian Narev to new CEO Matt Comyn. Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Melanie Laing and David Whiteing are the latest senior executives to depart in the wake of Austrac’s money-laundering investigation. Alphinity Investment Management’s Andrew Martin says some management changes were inevitable, and the shake-up will allow Comyn to start with a clean slate. Bayer Rosmarin had been a contender to succeed Narev.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, ALPHINITY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Credit card debt to take 138 years to pay

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 23-Mar-18

Commonwealth Bank executive Clive van Horen has conceded that the bank erred in the case of problem gambler David Harris. Harris has told a public hearing of the banking royal commission how the bank had continued to give him credit cards and had extended his credit limit even though he had admitted to being a problem gambler. Van Horen told the commission that the bank has since tightened its rules in relation to giving credit to customers who appear to have gambling problems.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Jobs cool RBA’s outlook on rates

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 19 & 30 : 23-Mar-18

The Australian dollar fell in local trading on 22 March in response to data showing that the number of jobs created in February was below expectations at 17,500. Australia’s unemployment rate rose from 5.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent during the month, while the labour participation rate also increased. Economists suggest that the jobs data means the Reserve Bank is unlikely to increase official interest rates in the near-term. Meanwhile, the strength of the US economy has prompted the Federal Reserve to flag three interest rates rises in 2019, in addition to another two in 2018.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED

US Fed set to rise further above RBA

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 32 : 23-Mar-18

The yield on US 10-year bonds has eased to 2.86 per cent in response to the Federal Reserve’s move to increase interest rates to 1.75 per cent. Kapstream Capital’s Steve Goldman expects the central bank to increase US rates to 2.5 per cent, adding that this is more likely to be in 2019 rather than 2018. The US federal funds rate is now higher than Australia’s cash rate for the first time since 2000. The interest rate differential is expected to widen, as the Federal Reserve has flagged further rate rises in 2018 and 2019. Most analysts do not expect the Reserve Bank to do so until at least the March 2019 quarter.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, KAPSTREAM CAPITAL PTY LTD, NOMURA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

RBA in no hurry to follow Fed on interest rates

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 21-Mar-18

The Reserve Bank of Australia has previously forecast that economic growth would average around three per cent in 2018. However, the minutes of the central bank’s latest monthly board meeting show that it expects economic growth to exceed "potential growth" in 2018. Bill Evans of Westpac notes that the Reserve Bank deems potential growth to be 2.75 per cent. Meanwhile, there seems to be little prospect of a rise in Australia’s cash rate in the near-term, while the Federal Reserve is widely tipped to increase US rates in March.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED

Fledglings targeted by $162m global fund

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 20-Mar-18

Venture capital firm Hatcher+ has entered into an partnership with technology start-up accelerator BlueChilli. Under the partnership, which will commence in April, Hatcher+ will co-invest in 240 new technology start-ups chosen by BlueChilli over the next three years, with finance to come from a new $US125 million ($A162 million) fund. BlueChilli founder and CEO Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin says it will need to find 12,000 entrepreneurs in order to choose the best 240, based on its previous processes for selecting start-ups to invest in.

CORPORATES
HATCHER+, BLUECHILLI, DROPSUITE, INZENSTUDIO, ICANDY INTERACTIVE LIMITED – ASX ICI