K: Financial and Insurance Services

World shrugs off Dow high

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 19 & 31 : 4-Aug-17

Sharemarkets in Australia and Asia closed lower on 3 August, despite the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching the 22,000-point milestone. The Dow Jones has gained 20 per cent since the US presidential election in November 2016, and much of this can be attributed to a rise in stocks that have exposure to global economic growth. However, the upbeat sentiment on Wall Street has not been reflected by the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index, which has fallen close to its 200-day moving average. A significant divergence between the two indices has often signalled a pullback in the past.

CORPORATES
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, DOW JONES TRANSPORTATION AVERAGE INDEX, SUNDIAL CAPITAL RESEARCH INCORPORATED, EDWARD JONES AND COMPANY, CMC MARKETS PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, APPLE INCORPORATED, BOEING COMPANY, McDONALD’S CORPORATION, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, KOSPI INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN

The sharemarket is not working as capital provider: Credit Suisse

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 3-Aug-17

Annual net equity issuance via the Australian sharemarket has averaged $A40bn over the last 10 years. However, Hasan Tevfik of Credit Suisse estimates that just $A1bn has been raised so far in 2017, saying contributing factors include the limited number of IPOs and access to corporate debt at interest rates of around three per cent. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse has identified BHP Billiton, Qantas and Lend Lease as being among the companies that could potentially announce share buybacks during the August reporting season.

CORPORATES
CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, COMPUTERSHARE LIMITED – ASX CPU, YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX YAL, ZIP INDUSTRIES AUSTRALIA, CRAVEABLE BRANDS LIMITED, ACCOLADE WINES LIMITED, SUPER A-MART PTY LTD, ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, OFFICEWORKS SUPERSTORES PTY LTD, CHOW TAI FOOK ENTERPRISES LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, CITIGROUP INCORPORATED

Superannuation fund looks for a greenie to keep them in the black

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 19 & 23 : 2-Aug-17

Vision Super hopes to attract new members for its sustainable balanced fund by targeting people who take part in climate change demonstrations and protest rallies. The superannuation fund, which boasts some 100,000 members in the local government sector and $A8.75bn worth of assets under management, is seeking to recruit a climate activist. John Roskam of the Institute of Public Affairs has questioned the appropriateness of Vision Super’s use of members’ funds to hire an environment activist.

CORPORATES
VISION SUPER PTY LTD, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Banks growl at BEAR necessities

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 26 : 2-Aug-17

Australian banks have expressed concern about the Federal Government’s proposed Banking Executive Accountability Regime. Criticisms include the lack of sufficient industry consultation and the fact that while non-bank financial services providers such as insurers will be excluded from the regime, it will apply to such businesses that are owned by banks. The Australian Bankers’ Association has also questioned the length of consultation period, although it is generally supportive of the push to increase the accountability of bank executives.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, CUSTOMER OWNED BANKING ASSOCIATION

Rising dollar a threat to economy: RBA

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Original article by James Glynn
The Australian – Page: 27 : 2-Aug-17

The Reserve Bank still expects GDP growth to return to three per cent and inflation to rise to within its target range. However, these forecasts are being hindered by the continued strength of the Australian dollar, which has been noted by central bank governor Philip Lowe. He is upbeat about the outlook for the labour market, forecasting that the unemployment rate will ease in the next several years. Meanwhile, Michael Blythe of the Commonwealth Bank expects the cash rate to remain on hold until at least late 2018.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED

ANZ restructure raises union fears of significant job losses

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 1-Aug-17

ANZ Bank CEO Shayne Elliott will emphasis on 1 August 2017 via a video to all staff that its Australasian focus is on retail customers and on corporate customers in Asia. The video will follow on from a message sent by Elliott on the previous day in which he called for changes to ANZ’s work practices and flexibility. Julia Angrisano of the Finance Sector Union says it is concerned that what appears to be a major reorganisation by ANZ will lead to job cuts at the bank.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, FINANCE SECTOR UNION, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Sharemarket’s worst July for six years cements investor gloom

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Original article by Philip Baker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 35 : 1-Aug-17

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index defied the medium-term trend to lose ground in July 2017. Since 2000, the index has gained an average of 1.3 per cent in July, but its underperformance over the last month means it has finished in the red for the last three months. The S&P/ASX 200 met with resistance at the 5,700-point level in July, and indeed in the last several months. The Australian market remains about 16 per cent below its peak prior to the global financial crisis, while key US share price indices are at record highs.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 ACCUMULATION INDEX, BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, ARISTOCRAT LEISURE LIMITED – ASX ALL, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Residential lending hits record levels

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 1-Aug-17

Reserve Bank of Australia figures show that there was a 7.4 per cent increase in mortgage loans to property investors in the year to June 2017. This compares with an increase of 6.2 per cent in loans to owner-occupiers. Overall, a record $A1.69 trillion worth of mortgages were active at the end of June. Martin North of Digital Finance Analytics said the figures suggest that regulatory attempts to cool the residential property market do not seem to have had any impact yet.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, DIGITAL FINANCE ANALYTICS, 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, ME BANK, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, CANSTAR PTY LTD, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Mortgage stress growing: ME Bank

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 31-Jul-17

Almost 50 per cent of Australian mortgage holders are spending more than 30 per cent of their pre-tax income on repayments, according to a survey by ME Bank. It also found that borrowers are less confident than they were six months ago about their ability to meet minimum mortgage repayments, with investors more pessimistic than owner-occupiers. Similarly, borrowers are less confident than when previously surveyed about their ability to repay more than the minimum amount on their mortgage.

CORPORATES
ME BANK, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

China pullback won’t dent local M&A

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 31-Jul-17

Data from Dealogic shows that $US40.7bn ($A50.9bn) worth of mergers and acquisitions involving Australian companies have been announced so far in 2017. Minter Ellison partner Alberto Colla expects Japanese corporate raiders to continue to target local companies following a number of deals over the last 18 months. The law firm anticipates that US and Canadian companies will also be key drivers of M&A activity in Australia, particularly if Chinese deal-making is affected by China’s new regulations on financial outflows.

CORPORATES
DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MINTER ELLISON, TOLL HOLDINGS LIMITED, JAPAN POST COMPANY LIMITED, BRADKEN LIMITED, HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY COMPANY LIMITED, ASG GROUP LIMITED, NOMURA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, PROGRAMMED MAINTENANCE SERVICES LIMITED – ASX PRG, PERSOL, SPOTLESS GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SPO, DOWNER EDI LIMITED – ASX DOW, VOCUS GROUP LIMITED – ASX VOC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, CORNERSTONE RESEARCH GROUP, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, KATANA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH, QUINDELL PLC, CIMIC GROUP LIMITED – ASX CIM