K: Financial and Insurance Services

Credit card firms push cashless world

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 10-Feb-15

Credit card companies are determined to eliminate cash from financial transactions. Progress towards this aim has been particularly fast in Australia and developing countries. MasterCard’s president of international markets, Ann Cairns, says half of all MasterCard transactions in Australia are already done through its PayPass system

CORPORATES
MASTERCARD INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED, VISA INTERNATIONAL, APPLE INCORPORATED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, SAMSUNG CORPORATION

Shocks likely as weaker $A hits home

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Original article by Bianca Hartge-Hazelman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 10-Feb-15

Shane Lee of CIMB notes that consensus forecasts for earnings per share in the February 2015 reporting season have not been unduly affected by the sharp fall in the value of the Australian dollar. CSL, Boral and Newcrest Mining are among the stocks that could potentially have benefited from the lower currency in the first half of 2014-15. Lee notes that Boral will have greater downside risk in fiscal 2016, when less of its foreign exposure will be hedged

CORPORATES
CIMB SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, OZ MINERALS LIMITED – ASX OZL, COCHLEAR LIMITED – ASX COH, PERSEUS MINING LIMITED – ASX PRU, SONIC HEALTHCARE LIMITED – ASX SHL, TRANSFIELD SERVICES LIMITED – ASX TSE, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, OCEANAGOLD CORPORATION – ASX OGC, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ILU, ATLAS IRON LIMITED – ASX AGO, SANDFIRE RESOURCES NL – ASX SFR, MOUNT GIBSON IRON LIMITED – ASX MGX

Embrace telematics or lose share, insurers told

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Original article by Ruth Liew
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 10-Feb-15

Brian Wallace of IT group CSC believes that the introduction of telematics technology in Australia’s insurance industry is inevitable. He says car insurers in particular will need to implement telematics in order to protect their market share. Insurance Australia Group has ruled out offering such products, but QBE Insurance Group says its telematics product has resulted in cost savings of up to 30 per cent for some customers when renewing their policies

CORPORATES
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, QBE INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX QBE, ACCENTURE, CELENT COMMUNICATIONS LLC, NRMA LIFE LIMITED, CGU INSURANCE AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Bank bosses set for big pay days

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 10-Feb-15

The personal wealth of the CEOs of Australia’s four major banks has been boosted by the strong gains in the banks’ share prices. Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev now holds some $A30m worth of shares in the bank, while the shares and options of ANZ Bank CEO Mike Smith are worth around $A61m based on the bank’s current share price. Wilson Asset Management’s Geoff Wilson says shareholders usually do not object to the high remuneration of CEOs provided investors also benefit from increased wealth

CORPORATES
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, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 BANKS INDEX, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

RBA helps BoQ in its new thrust

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 9-Feb-15

The Bank of Queensland (BoQ) will be hoping that its mortgage lending business will be boosted by the 25 basis point reduction in the cash rate on 3 February 2015. The regional bank was quick to announce that it will reduce its fixed and variable home loan rates, as well as its business lending rates. BoQ shares closed at $A13.31 on 6 February, although the consensus share price target of analysts is $A12.71. Most analysts have a "buy" or "hold" recommendation on the stock

CORPORATES
BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, INVESTEC BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, EZCORP INCORPORATED, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, MACQUARIE SECURITIES PTY LTD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Insurers to weather revenue resistance

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Original article by Ruth Liew
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 9-Feb-15

Jan van der Schalk of CLSA forecasts that Insurance Australia Group will post a 2014-15 interim cash net profit of $A591m. This compares with $A642m previously. Meanwhile, CLSA forecasts that QBE Insurance Group’s cash net profit for calendar 2014 will be $US933m ($A1.2bn). Australian insurers have benefited from cost-cutting and rising premiums in recent years

CORPORATES
INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, QBE INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX QBE, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Special payout boosts Tabcorp

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 21 : 6-Feb-15

Gaming group Tabcorp has announced a 2014-15 interim net profit increase of 64.1% to $A122.4m. Excluding abnormals the rise was 21.8% to $A90.9m, and revenue also grew 6.7% to reach $A1.12bn. The six-month distribution is $A0.10, up from $A0.08. CEO David Attenborough said the Australian-listed company would stage a pro-rata accelerated renounceable entitlement offer at an issue price of $A3.70, compared with the most recent on-market value of $A4.71. The proceeds will be partly used to fund a special distribution worth $A0.30 a share

CORPORATES
TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, ARGO INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX ARG, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Cuts, tax hikes critical to AAA rating

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 6-Feb-15

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said on 5 February 2015 that there is "no easy path" to a Budget surplus. The Federal Government seems to have given up aiming for large savings in the May 2015 Budget. Ratings agencies contend that for Australia to preserve its "AAA" credit rating in the long term, the Government must raise taxes or reduce spending. Andrew Colquhoun of Fitch Ratings notes that New Zealand’s Budget was revised without the political turmoil seen in Australia

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, STANDARD AND POOR’S (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, FITCH RATINGS LIMITED, FITCH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MOODY’S ANALYTICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Angel investor Clive Mayhew leads $1.7m round in OpenLearning

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Original article by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
BRW – Page: online : 5-Feb-15

Australian online education platform OpenLearning has received $A1.7 million in funding from individual investors. Clive Mayhew contributed $A1 million. The company will use the new capital to fund expansion, aiming to raise the number of its users from 125,000 to a million globally by 2016

CORPORATES
OPEN LEARNING PTY LTD, MURU-D PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, ICSGLOBAL LIMITED – ASX ICS, BENESSE HOLDINGS PTY LTD, SKY SOFTWARE PTY LTD, SYDNEY SEEED FUND MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, ORCHARD STREET PTY LTD, COURSERA INCORPORATED

Telstra, Stockland and big four to benefit from rate cut

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 6-Feb-15

More investors are expected to embrace equities as a result of the interest rate cut on 3 February 2015, due to low yields on government bonds and bank deposits. George Boubouras of Contango Asset Management notes that stocks such as banks, telcos, consumer staples and infrastructure typically rise in response to an interest rate cut. Healthy dividend yields means the four major banks and Telstra in particular are likely to receive continued strong support from investors

CORPORATES
CONTANGO ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, DEXUS PROPERTY GROUP – ASX DXS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, PLATYPUS ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED