K: Financial and Insurance Services

Socially responsible investing demands rigour, says adviser

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Original article by Jemima Whyte
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 30-Oct-14

The socially responsible investment industry in Australia is less mature than the same sector in the US. Alexandra P Cart, co-founder of US impact investment advisory firm Madeira Capital, says more accountability is needed in the sector. Metrics must also be improved. Impact investing recently attracted public attention after the Australian National University opted for the removal of several mining companies from its investment fund

CORPORATES
MADEIRA GLOBAL LLC, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, PHILANTHROPY AUSTRALIA, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

Suncorp urges inquiry to level the playing field

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Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 30-Oct-14

Suncorp CEO Patrick Snowball believes that the Federal Government’s financial system inquiry focuses excessively on the stability of Australia’s banking system while paying little attention to competition in the sector. He said on 29 October 2014 that smaller banks are disadvantaged by the current regulations. Snowball also spoke against allowing foreign insurers to sell policies in north Queensland

CORPORATES
SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Fund managers tap cash to drive further buoyancy

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Original article by Bianca Hartge-Hazelman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 29-Oct-14

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 has risen by 5.5 per cent in the last two weeks, after dipping nearly nine per cent in the previous six weeks. A number of Australian share funds reduced their cash holdings in the September 2014 quarter, according to data from Morningstar. Arnhem Investment Management is among the fund managers to have capitalised on recent share price weakness to increase their exposure to equities

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, ARNHEM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AIRLIE FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FIDELITY AUSTRALIAN OPPORTUNITIES FUND, PERPETUAL’S INDUSTRIAL SHARE FUND, SCHRODER INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSBIL DEXIA LIMITED, INVESTORS MUTUAL AUSTRALIAN SHARE FUND, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, RESMED INCORPORATED – ASX RMD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MAGELLAN ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Risk of ‘fiscal fiasco’ if China runs off the rails

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 2 : 27-Oct-14

Deloitte Access Economics has released a new report on the potential impact on Australia of a more rapid slowing of GDP growth in China. The latter accounts for 38% of Australian exports, and if its growth rate falls to under 4% per annum Australia is likely to experience a recession. The forecasting firm warns that the Federal Government must do more to rein in the Budget deficit in light of this scenario. However Deloitte still maintains that the most likely outcome is growth in China of 7% or more, and a fall in Australia’s terms of trade of 9.2% for 2014-15 before less dramatic declines of between 1% and 2% a year in the period to 2018-19

CORPORATES
DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

$900m cost of crash claims

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Original article by Gabrielle Knowles, Alex Massey
The West Australian – Page: 3 : 27-Oct-14

The Insurance Commission of Western Australia’s deputy CEO Lew Watts notes that cyclists, motorbike riders and pedestrians accounted for about 16 per cent of claims made under its compulsory third party polices in the last four years. These payouts exceeded $A900m over the period, and Lew adds that 35 per cent of claims made for catastrophic injuries were by "vulnerable"
road users. The average cost of each claim was $A5.9m

CORPORATES
INSURANCE COMMISSION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. ROAD SAFETY COUNCIL, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF ROAD SAFETY, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE SERVICE

News Corp targets $1.85trn super pool

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Original article by Madeleine Heffernan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 27-Oct-14

Investment platform provider OneVue has consented to an alliance with News Corp Australia, as the media group seeks to expand into new markets. It now aims to offer services for superannuation account holders, with the launch of its BrightDay product. The venture is to be managed by James Leplaw, GM of News Corp’s "Eureka Report" investor newsletter. The latter is part of the Australian Independent Business Media publishing business acquired by News Corp in mid-2012, but is believed to have suffered a drop in subscriber numbers

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, ONEVUE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX OVH, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS MEDIA PTY LTD, EUREKA REPORT PTY LTD, CLIME ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, PRIVATE MEDIA PARTNERS PTY LTD, CARNEGIE, WYLIE AND COMPANY PTY LTD, INVESTSMART FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED

Boart Longyear saved in Centerbridge deal

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Oct-14

The US-based Centerbridge Partners private equity firm has announced that it will make as much as $US352m ($A401.8m) available to troubled mining services group Boart Longyear in a debt-to-equity deal. The Australian-­listed drilling company has suffered a share price decline of 93%-plus in a little over 1.5 years, and had recently created doubt over its ability to continue as a going concern. Centerbridge will lift its stake from 13% to between 41.6% and 70%, although its voting stock holding will be restricted to 49.9%

CORPORATES
BOART LONGYEAR LIMITED – ASX BLY, CENTERBRIDGE PARTNERS LP, BILLABONG INTERNATIONAL LIMITED – ASX BBG, OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Stevens slams bank holdouts

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Oct-14

A new payments platform enabling real-time processing of transactions is supposed to be rolled out with the help of the Australian banking sector by late 2016. However Westpac Banking and others have not yet approved the incorporation of a joint venture for the project, drawing sharp criticism from Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens. He told the 2014 congress of the Australian Payments Clearing Association that the central bank "would be duty-bound to consider a regulatory ­approach" if no progress can be achieved

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PAYMENTS CLEARING ASSOCIATION LIMITED, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Shares still compelling as ageing population chases income

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Original article by Philip Baker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 24-Oct-14

Experts advise investors to focus on equities that are likely to benefit from so-called megatrends such as population growth, ageing societies and the rising of the middle class. Yield will be the primary consideration for investors. With a 10-year government bond yielding only about 3.2 per cent, investors are likely to choose equities instead

CORPORATES
SANOFI PHARMACEUTICALS, COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY, JOHNSON AND JOHNSON, SABMILLER PLC, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED

Inflation on track and RBA still likely to tighten with the Fed

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Original article by Alan Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 23-Oct-14

Australia’s CPI data for the third quarter of 2014 suggests that inflation is likely to be at the lower end of the Reserve Bank’s target range by the end of 2015. The central bank expects the underlying inflation rate to fall to about 2.25 per cent per annum in the December quarter. The Australian dollar is likely to continue to weaken against the US dollar if interest rates are raised in the US

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD