K: Financial and Insurance Services

Tabcorp split follows trend showing spike in demerger share prices

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Original article by Richard Henderson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 26-May-22

The Lottery Corporation has a market capitalisation of $10bn following its demerger from Tabcorp. UBS estimates that the combined share price movements of the two stocks since the split has added about 7.5 per cent to the market value of both companies. AGL Energy and Incitec Pivot are among other listed companies that are pursuing demerger plans. Nick Alexander of UBS says demergers often prompt mergers and acquisitions activity, while Macquarie Group’s analysis shows that spin-offs typically underperform for the first six months but tend to outperform in the long-term.

CORPORATES
THE LOTTERY CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLC, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

ANZ remains prone to ‘liar loans’: UBS survey

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Original article by Ayesha de Kretser
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 27-Apr-22

Some 37 per cent of Australians who sought a mortgage loan in the second half of 2021 had lied on their application form, according to research by UBS. This compares with 41 per cent in 2020. The survey also shows that 55 per cent of ANZ Bank customers had included factual misstatements in their application form; this compares with 40 per cent of Westpac customers, 30 per cent of Commonwealth Bank customers and 19 per cent of National Australia Bank customers. John Storey of UBS says it is particularly concerning that 81 per cent of the ANZ customers who submitted applications for so-called ‘liar loans’ claim that they were advised to do so by their banker.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Labor to regulate buy now, pay later

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Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 19 : 27-Apr-22

Shadow financial services minister Stephen Jones has flagged greater regulation of the ‘buy now, pay later’ sector if Labor wins the federal election. Jones says the BNPL sector is operating in an "ambiguous" regulatory space, and he contends that it requires some degree of regulation as it is directly competing with credit providers. He has also indicated that Labor will take action to halt a sharp decline in the number of financial advisers, with many leaving the industry in recent years due to federal government reforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Buy now, merge later: Zip, Sezzle in $491m tie-up

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 1-Mar-22

Zip Co will acquire ‘buy now, pay later’ rival Sezzle in an all-scrip deal that values the latter at $491 million. The transaction comes less than two months after Latitude Financial announced that it would buy Humm’s BNPL and credit card businesses. The announcement coincided with the release of Zip’s results for the six months to 31 December. Zip reported an interim loss of $172.8 million, down from $455.9 million a year earlier, while revenue was up 89 per cent to $302.2 million.

CORPORATES
ZIP CO LIMITED – ASX Z1P, SEZZLE INCORPORATED – ASX SZL, LATITUDE FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP LIMITED – ASX LFS, HUMM GROUP LIMITED – ASX HUM

NAB backflips on outrageous credit card cash ban

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Original article by Charlotte Grieve
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

It was recently revealed that the National Australia Bank was getting staff to encourage customers to use options other than cash payments in NAB branches when making credit card payments. It denied that the policy amounted to a ban on cash payments in branches, but internal training documents suggest otherwise. However, following an angry reaction from NAB customers and staff, the NAB has done a backflip on its credit card cash ban, which had been described as "outrageous" by the Finance Sector Union.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

Deluge of flood claims has investors fleeing

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-Mar-22

The Insurance Council of Australia has advised that more than 15,000 insurance claims arising from floods in Queensland and New South Wales have been lodged to date. Suncorp had received 5,000 claims by Monday morning, while Insurance Australia Group had received more than 3,200 claims by Sunday evening. Suncorp has also indicated that it may incur losses of up to $75m as a result of the floods; the general insurer recently reported that its costs associated with weather events in the first half of 2021-22 totalled $695m.

CORPORATES
INSURANCE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG

Mobile banking apps and the internet are more satisfying for customers than branch visits or phone banking

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

The new Roy Morgan Satisfaction with Banking Channels Report shows the CBA recording the highest customer satisfaction levels for branch visits, internet banking and mobile banking – using an app on a mobile phone or tablet – among the big four banks. The report also showed mobile banking and internet banking as the service channels with the highest customer satisfaction. As of December 2021, CBA was the strongest performer of the big four with the highest customer satisfaction across three of the service channels including mobile banking (90.8%), internet banking (87.8%) and branch banking (83.5%). The CBA had customer satisfaction of 76.3% for phone banking. There was little to split its competitors, with ANZ coming in second overall with 89.2% (mobile), 86.6% (internet), 83.2% (branch) and 76.6% (phone). Westpac followed with 87.9% (mobile), 86.1% (internet), 82.1% (branch) and the highest of the big four for phone banking (79.4%). NAB rounded out the big four with 89.8% (mobile), 86.5% (internet), 81.5% (branch) and 77.3% (phone). This new data comes from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most comprehensive consumer survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Buy now, merge later: Zip, Sezzle in $491m tie-up

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 1-Mar-22

Zip Co will acquire ‘buy now, pay later’ rival Sezzle in an all-scrip deal that values the latter at $491 million. The transaction comes less than two months after Latitude Financial announced that it would buy Humm’s BNPL and credit card businesses. The announcement coincided with the release of Zip’s results for the six months to 31 December. Zip reported an interim loss of $172.8 million, down from $455.9 million a year earlier, while revenue was up 89 per cent to $302.2 million.

CORPORATES
ZIP CO LIMITED – ASX Z1P, SEZZLE INCORPORATED – ASX SZL, LATITUDE FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP LIMITED – ASX LFS, HUMM GROUP LIMITED – ASX HUM

NAB backflips on outrageous credit card cash ban

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Original article by Charlotte Grieve
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

It was recently revealed that the National Australia Bank was getting staff to encourage customers to use options other than cash payments in NAB branches when making credit card payments. It denied that the policy amounted to a ban on cash payments in branches, but internal training documents suggest otherwise. However, following an angry reaction from NAB customers and staff, the NAB has done a backflip on its credit card cash ban, which had been described as "outrageous" by the Finance Sector Union.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

Mobile banking apps and the internet are more satisfying for customers than branch visits or phone banking

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

The new Roy Morgan Satisfaction with Banking Channels Report shows the CBA recording the highest customer satisfaction levels for branch visits, internet banking and mobile banking – using an app on a mobile phone or tablet – among the big four banks. The report also showed mobile banking and internet banking as the service channels with the highest customer satisfaction. As of December 2021, CBA was the strongest performer of the big four with the highest customer satisfaction across three of the service channels including mobile banking (90.8%), internet banking (87.8%) and branch banking (83.5%). The CBA had customer satisfaction of 76.3% for phone banking. There was little to split its competitors, with ANZ coming in second overall with 89.2% (mobile), 86.6% (internet), 83.2% (branch) and 76.6% (phone). Westpac followed with 87.9% (mobile), 86.1% (internet), 82.1% (branch) and the highest of the big four for phone banking (79.4%). NAB rounded out the big four with 89.8% (mobile), 86.5% (internet), 81.5% (branch) and 77.3% (phone). This new data comes from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most comprehensive consumer survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB