K: Financial and Insurance Services

Bendigo Bank, Bankwest & ING home loan customers are the most satisfied with their bank after two years of interest rate rises

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-May-24

New financial data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source shows that Bendigo Bank has topped the banking customer satisfaction ratings among home loan customers in early 2024. Bendigo Bank’s home loan customer satisfaction is a market leading 87.7% in March. In second place was Bankwest with customer satisfaction among home loan customers at 86.6%. Filling out the top four banks are ING on 84.6% and Macquarie on 79.9%. The latest data covers the six months to March 2024, and overall home loan customer satisfaction amongst Australia’s top banks collectively was at 74.9% during this period. This represents a collective decrease of 1.1% points from a year ago. CBA had the highest home loan customer satisfaction among the big four banks, with a rating of 76.1% in March. Average home loan customer satisfaction with the big four banks as a group was 72.7%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BENDIGO BANK, BANKWEST, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Rate rise still priced in despite Chalmers’ forecast

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 14-May-24

AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver is amongst those who have questioned the federal government’s forecast that the headline inflation rate will fall to 3.5 per cent by the end of June. He notes that it is uncertain as to how cost-of-living relief in the budget will impact on inflation, given that the financial year ends in about six weeks. Paul Bloxham of HSBC in turn says the budget is likely to boost the Reserve Bank’s preferred measure of core inflation, which is likely to rule out an interest rate cut in 2024. Meanwhile, futures traders still expect the central bank to increase the cash rate this year.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, HSBC HOLDINGS PLC, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Former PM Gillard to chair $2bn energy fund

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 14 : 7-May-24

HMC Capital has announced that former prime minister Julia Gillard has agreed to chair the newly created $2 billion HMC Capital Energy Transition Fund, which will make investments in energy assets such as wind, battery and bio-fuels. Gillard said she was "excited and honoured" by her appointment, noting it was in the nation’s interests to make the most of its abundant sources of renewable energy, while for his part, HMC Capital CEO David Di Pilla said he was "absolutely delighted" that someone of Gillard’s global standing and experience had agreed to chair the new fund.

CORPORATES
HMC CAPITA LIMITED – ASX HMC, HMC CAPITAL ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

ASX tipped to hit 8300 this year, defying rate talk

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 7-May-24

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 reached a record high of 7,896.9 points in early April; despite the recent pullback it has still gained about 0.6 per cent so far in 2024. UBS equity strategist Richard Schellbach is amongst the market watchers who are bullish about the outlook for the ASX 200, forecasting that it will top 8,000 points by the end of this year. VanEck Australia in turn has a year-end target of 8,300 points, while David Bassanese from Betashares expects the index to reach 8,250 by the end of 2024.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, VANECK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BETASHARES CAPITAL LIMITED

ASX tipped to hit 8300 this year, defying rate talk

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 7-May-24

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 reached a record high of 7,896.9 points in early April; despite the recent pullback it has still gained about 0.6 per cent so far in 2024. UBS equity strategist Richard Schellbach is amongst the market watchers who are bullish about the outlook for the ASX 200, forecasting that it will top 8,000 points by the end of this year. VanEck Australia in turn has a year-end target of 8,300 points, while David Bassanese from Betashares expects the index to reach 8,250 by the end of 2024.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, VANECK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BETASHARES CAPITAL LIMITED

Former PM Gillard to chair $2bn energy fund

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 14 : 7-May-24

HMC Capital has announced that former prime minister Julia Gillard has agreed to chair the newly created $2 billion HMC Capital Energy Transition Fund, which will make investments in energy assets such as wind, battery and bio-fuels. Gillard said she was "excited and honoured" by her appointment, noting it was in the nation’s interests to make the most of its abundant sources of renewable energy, while for his part, HMC Capital CEO David Di Pilla said he was "absolutely delighted" that someone of Gillard’s global standing and experience had agreed to chair the new fund.

CORPORATES
HMC CAPITA LIMITED – ASX HMC, HMC CAPITAL ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

CBA tips one rate cut this year as fears of a rise ease

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Original article by Cecile Lefort, Joshua Peach
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 1-May-24

Financial market traders have now priced in a 25 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will increase the cash rate by September; this compares with a 47 per cent chance on Monday. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Bank now expects the cash rate to be reduced by 25 basis points to 4.1 per cent in November, having previously forecast three interest rate cuts in 2024. It also anticipates four interest rate cuts in 2025. The revised interest rate outlook follows last week’s release of data showing that inflation grew by a higher than expected one per cent for the March quarter; however, it preceded the release of data showing a decline in retail sales in March.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

RBA’s next move will still be a cut: investors

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Original article by Cecile Lefort
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 30-Apr-24

The US Federal Reserve is now widely tipped to deliver its first interest rate cut in December, after the latest inflation data dampened expectations of a rate cut in June. Meanwhile, bond traders have now priced in a 50 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will increase the cash rate to 4.6 per cent by September. Both central banks are expected to leave interest rates unchanged at their upcoming board meetings. Kapstream Capital portfolio manager Kris Bernie still expects the RBA to reduce the cash rate, although he says this is now likely to be delayed until 2025.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, KAPSTREAM CAPITAL PTY LTD

Stunning equity rallies bring super result

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 24-Apr-24

Data from Chant West shows that the median growth superannuation fund posted a return of 8.8 per cent for the first nine months of 2023-24. This is just shy of the total return of 9.2 per cent for the full 2022-23 financial year. Chant West’s Mano Mohankumar says the performance of Australian and international equities were the key driver for the strong return; he notes that growth funds have gained 11 per cent since November, after losing 1.9 per cent in the first four months of the financial year. Balanced funds delivered a return of seven per cent for the nine months to 31 March.

CORPORATES
CHANT WEST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD

Mortgage stress declined in March as household incomes increased and the RBA left interest rates unchanged

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Apr-24

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 1,531,000 mortgage holders (30.3%) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to March 2024. This was a fall of 98,000 (-1.1%) on a month earlier, after the RBA elected to leave interest rates unchanged for the third straight meeting. The level of mortgage stress in March is the lowest so far this year; this month’s decline has been driven by rising household incomes, which has reduced the financial pressure on some mortgage holders. The proportion of mortgage holders now ‘At Risk’ is well below the record high of 35.6% reached during the Global Financial Crisis because of the larger size of the Australian mortgage market today. However, the number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 724,000 since May 2022 when the RBA began a cycle of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the number of mortgage holders considered ‘Extremely At Risk’ of mortgage stress, is now numbered at 918,000 (18.7% of mortgage holders), which is significantly above the long-term average over the last 10 years of 14.4%. 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