K: Financial and Insurance Services

Confidence lifts but jobs lag

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 21 : 13-Aug-14

The latest data compiled by National Australia Bank on the nation’s businesses, excluding agriculture, show that both confidence and trading conditions improved in July 2014. The latter are now at levels last witnessed in 2010, while sentiment is at the best reading since the global financial crisis. New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures also indicate residential real estate prices growth of 10.1% for 2013-14. However the jobless rate for July was up as well, to 6.4%. This was the worst result in a dozen years

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Banks hit by class action on credit card fees

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Original article by Ben Butler, Adele Ferguson
The Age – Page: 1 : 12-Aug-14

The ANZ Bank, Citibank and Westpac have been taken to court over credit card late fees in a class action by Maurice Blackburn. The law suit is an "open class action", with every customer who paid excessive late fees to be automatically included. Maurice Blackburn is believed to be preparing other suits against National Australia Bank, American Express and Commonwealth Bank of Australia

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, CITIBANK PTY LTD, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED, BANK OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BANK OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Banks count on trust to fend off new players

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 21 : 12-Aug-14

Bendigo & Adelaide Bank CEO Mike Hirst has commented on the new competition posed to the banking sector in Australia and globally by electronic payment services providers such as PayPal. He noted that these challengers lack the trust consumers still have in the established banks, which also command larger holdings in their accounts. Hirst argued that the main threat to the industry was a potential serious data breach by computer hackers, which would erode the confidence customers have in the institutions

CORPORATES
BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, PAYPAL INCORPORATED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Don’t make any sudden moves

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Original article by Philip Baker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 12-Aug-14

The Australian sharemarket’s longer-term trading average is about 14.5 times forward earnings, and the general consensus is that this represents fair value. However, the forward price-earnings ratio of blue-chip industrial stocks in the S&P/ASX 100 is currently nearly 17 times, compared with a long-term average of around 15 times. Telstra, Wesfarmers, James Hardie Industries and Amcor are among the stocks that contribute to this

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, JAMES HARDIE INDUSTRIES PLC – ASX JHX, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, RAMSAY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX RHC, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, HENDERSON GROUP PLC – ASX HGG, GRAINCORP LIMITED – ASX GNC, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

ASIC: Newcrest fine a warning

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Original article by Nassim Khadem
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 7-Aug-14

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission will undertake a review of analysts’ research reports in the wake of the scandal over Newcrest Mining’s selective briefings. ASIC commissioner John Price says the gold miner’s record $A1.2m fine demonstrates the need for companies to ensure that they comply with continuous disclosure requirements and make market-sensitive information available to all financial market participants

CORPORATES
NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALASIAN INVESTOR RELATIONS ASSOCIATION LIMITED, SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH

Takeover rush fuelled by cheap debt could shrink index

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 7-Aug-14

Hasan Tevfik of Credit Suisse expects Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index to reach 6,000 points by the end of 2014. He forecasts that the low cost of funding via debt markets will lead to an upturn in takeover activity in Australia. This in turn will result in the number of companies that are acquired or undertake buybacks exceeding IPO and capital raising activity

CORPORATES
CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, DAVID JONES LIMITED – ASX DJS, AUSTRALAND PROPERTY GROUP – ASX ALZ, TREASURY WINE ESTATES LIMITED – ASX TWE, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, BUSINESS 20 (B20), RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Cheques dead and cash no longer king

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Aug-14

The Australian Payments Clearing Association has issued a new study commissioned from the RFi consultancy firm. The "Milestones Report" predicts the share of all transactions that is accounted for by cash to decline by 20% to just 43% in the period to 2018. The use of cheques has also dropped 12.5% in 2012 and 13.3% in 2013, and by 2018 there may be few businesses left that still accept them. Credit cards and the eftpos system are tipped to each hold 24% of the payments market by 2018, while new solutions using smartphones will grow their share from 2% to 12%

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PAYMENTS CLEARING ASSOCIATION LIMITED, RETAIL FINANCE INTELLIGENCE PTY LTD, PROPERTY EXCHANGE AUSTRALIA, MASTERCARD AUSTRALIA LIMITED, VISA INTERNATIONAL, EFT-POS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Interest rates in state of suspension

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 6-Aug-14

Riki Polygenis of the ANZ Bank says the Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to adopt a cautious approach to tightening monetary policy given the state of the economy. The central bank left the cash rate unchanged on 5 August 2014, and its monetary policy statement largely reiterated the views that were expressed in the previous month. Meanwhile, new data shows that the nation’s trade deficit blew out to $A4.8bn in the June quarter

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Big four banks lead lenders in slashing term deposit rates for savers

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 21 : 6-Aug-14

New data issued by Canstar show that Australia’s four main banks have taken the record low official cash interest rate as their cue to not only reduce home loan rates but the interest paid on term deposits. The five-year term rate has been cut by 15 basis points to 4.05% at National Australia Bank, and 20 basis points to 4.15% at Westpac Banking. A reduction of 40 basis points to 3.6% has also been announced by Suncorp. Commonwealth Bank of Australia had recently started a move by the major lenders to drop the fixed-rate mortgage rate to 4.99% for the first time ever

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, CANSTAR PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, HSBC BANK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, AUSSIE HOME LOANS LIMITED

Little joy for big four in Moody’s assessment

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 19 : 5-Aug-14

Credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has commented on the findings of the Australian Government’s financial system inquiry. Its chair, David Murray, had rejected claims by the four main banks that they were facing an unduly harsh regulatory burden in the local roll-out of the Basel III reforms for the sector. Banks with domestic systemic importance, or those deemed "too big to fail", must increase their tier-one capital ratios. However Moody’s notes that its data show banks of a similar size overseas are no better off, and worse in the UK and Canada

CORPORATES
MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS. BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING SUPERVISION, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD