K64 Auxiliary Finance and Insurance Services

ASIC next in line to be climate cop

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Dec-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission will begin to legally enforce a requirement that listed companies must inform their shareholders and customers of any material risks from climate change. ASIC has not yet used this enforcement power under the Corporations Act 2001, but it intends to do so in 2020. Woolworths and Treasury Wine Estates are among the companies that have warned of the potential impact of climate change in their financial reports.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, TREASURY WINE ESTATES LIMITED – ASX TWE, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

ASX creates the Aussie Nasdaq index

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 & 16 : 16-Dec-19

Stock exchange operator ASX Limited will launch the S&P All Technology Index in February. It will be based on the Nasdaq Composite Index, and will offer an alternative listing option for technology companies whose capitalisation is too small for the US index. The ASX’s Max Cunningham says the new index should raise the profile of smaller technology companies. The existing S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology index covers just 13 stocks.

CORPORATES
ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, STANDARD AND POOR’S FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC, NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDEX, WISETECH GLOBAL LIMITED – ASX WTC, APPEN LIMITED – ASX APX, XERO LIMITED – ASX XRO, COMPUTERSHARE LIMITED – ASX CPU, AFTERPAY TOUCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX APT, ALTIUM LIMITED – ASX ALU, LINK ADMINISTRATION HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LNK, NITRO SOFTWARE LIMITED – ASX NTO, TYRO PAYMENTS LIMITED – ASX TYR, LATITUDE FINANCIAL GROUP LIMITED, RETAIL ZOO PTY LTD, PROPERTYGURU LIMITED

$45bn ASX hit as trade war flares

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 25 : 4-Dec-19

The Australian sharemarket recorded its third-biggest one-day fall in the year to date on 3 December; it was driven by factors such as the interest rate outlook and the latest tariff moves in the US. However, Kyle Rodda of IG Markets says the local bourse was overdue for a pullback after the recent strong gains. Wall Street and European stocks also fell sharply, although Asian markets recorded more modest declines, while the Australian dollar reached a three-week high. Richard Coppleson of Bell Potter still expects the local market to reach a new record high by the end of 2019.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, IG MARKETS LIMITED, BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Local bourse is ready to test record highs

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 28 : 26-Nov-19

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index has gained 19 per cent so in 2019, and it is just two per cent shy of the record high of 6,875.5 points in late July. A number of factors could see the local bourse reach a new peak, including a resolution to the US-China trade war and the potential for policy stimulus in December’s mid-year fiscal and economic outlook. However, the federal government is unlikely to pursue stimulus measures before the May 2020 Budget, as it continues to focus on a surplus.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

IOOF to push ahead with buyout of ANZ’s wealth arm

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 21 : 18-Oct-19

Shares in wealth manager IOOF Holdings rallied on 17 October after it moved a step closer to completing a deal to acquire the ANZ Bank’s OnePath pensions and investments division. IOOF has advised that it will pay just $850m for the business if it gains regulatory approval by 30 June. This represents a 13 per cent discount to the previously agreed purchase price. Meanwhile, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has indicated that it will not appeal a recent Federal Court decision that cleared five IOOF executives and directors of misconduct.

CORPORATES
IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, ONEPATH AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Strong gains raise question of fair stock value

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 18-Oct-19

The Australian sharemarket’s pullback on 17 October was to be expected, after the S&P/ASX 200 had gained 3.8 per cent in two weeks. The market may be vulnerable to a further pullback, given that it now looks to be the most expensive since October 2007 on a price-earnings basis. Meanwhile, financial markets have downgraded the chances of an official interest rate cut in both November and December following the release of the latest unemployment data.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

AMP to hit costs in bank merger

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 17 & 23 : 11-Oct-19

Bell Potter analyst Lafitani Sotiriou has questioned AMP’s decision to merge its bank and Australian wealth divisions, suggesting that it is "strategy on the run". Allan Gray Australia CEO Simon Mawhinney in turn says the move raises conflicts of interest concerns. An AMP spokeswoman says the two businesses will have separate financial services licences and will remain separate legal entities after being folded into the new AMP Australia. Alex Wade will be CEO of the combined business.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AMP BANK LIMITED

Stocks lashed by recession fears

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 27 : 4-Oct-19

Factors such as growing uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy and a ruling from the WTO that has cleared the US to impose tariffs on European Union imports have weighed on investors worldwide. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 has shed 2.9 per cent so far in October, while the S&P 500 in the US has fallen by three per cent. Aaryn Nania of Lucerne Investment Partners warns that investors should expect further market volatility, although Robert Buckland of Citigroup says it is too soon to predict a recession in the US and the end of the bull market.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, LUCERNE INVESTMENT PARTNERS, CITIGROUP INCORPORATED, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, KOSPI INDEX, EURO STOXX 50 INDEX

Director insider trading is rife

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 19 : 23-Sep-19

Australian National University academic Dr Dean Katselas has studied the trading of shares by directors following the release of listed companies’ earnings announcements. He says directors typically sell shares when positive information about their company is released and spark a jump in its share price, while they buy shares after the release of negative information that sees the share price depressed. Katselas says ‘contrary’ share trades are being made on the basis of non-public information about a company’s future performance, which he says essentially amounts to insider trading.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

IOOF no closer to ANZ deal after court win

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Original article by Joanna Mather, Aleks Vickovich
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 17 : 23-Sep-19

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has failed in its court case against IOOF Holdings, in which it sought to argue that the financial services company breached its obligation to act in its members’ best interests. It had been the first time in more than 10 years that APRA had taken superannuation trustees to court, with Federal Court Justice Jayne Jagot finding that its legal arguments were "unpersuasive". Despite APRA’s lack of success in the case, industry observers say it does not mean that IOOF is guaranteed to complete its takeover of the ANZ Bank’s wealth unit.

CORPORATES
IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, ALLENS, ADVISER RATINGS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD