K: Financial and Insurance Services

Book of death bid to keep default life insurance

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 12-Aug-19

Parliament is due to vote on legislation in September that would see people under 25 and those with low account balances no longer automatically receive life insurance through their superannuation. It has been estimated the measure could reduce the premiums that life insurance companies receive by almost $3 billion. It is believed lobbyists for life insurer TAL have circulated a document featuring examples of dead and injured workers who have received insurance payouts but who would not have done so under the proposed changes. The document has been dubbed ‘the book of death’ by some MPs.

CORPORATES
TAL LIMITED

Investors query AMP turnaround

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 22 : 9-Aug-19

AMP has announced a loss of $2.3bn for the first half of 2019 and a new strategy to turn around its fortunes. Amongst other things, the wealth manager aims to reduce costs by about $300m a year. AMP has also flagged plans to significantly reduce the number of financial advisers in its network and place more emphasis on so-called roboadvice. AMP will also continue to pursue the sale of its life insurance business to Resolution Life, while it will issue new shares at $1.50 apiece via a $650m capital raising.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, RESOLUTION LIFE GROUP LIMITED, MERLON CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Bond signal: ultra-low rates for a decade

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 26 : 9-Aug-19

The Reserve Bank of Australia is widely tipped to reduce the cash rate below 0.5 per cent within six months, and overnight indexed swaps pricing suggests that the cash rate will average 0.84 per cent over the next decade. David Plank of the ANZ Bank warns that the central bank will most likely need to adopt a quantitative easing policy within 5-10 years; he adds that this will probably not be necessary in the next year or so, unless there is a significant downturn in the global economy.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, AUSTRALIA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS

Cheap money squeezes CBA

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Original article by James Eyers, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 8-Aug-19

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has posted a 2018-19 cash profit of $8.49bn, which is 4.7 per cent lower than previously; revenue was two per cent lower at $24.4bn. CEO Matt Comyn has warned that the bank’s net interest margin will fall by four basis points in 2019-20 due to the consecutive official interest rate cuts in June and July. He adds that there will be limited scope to pass on further rate cuts to customers, as many of its deposit rates are already close to zero. CBA’s cost-to-income ratio is currently 46.2 per cent, and Comyn says the aim is to reduce it to below 40 per cent over time.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, PM CAPITAL LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND

$47bn lost as currency war erupts

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 25 : 7-Aug-19

The Australian sharemarket has shed 5.4 per cent since reaching a record high in late July, as fears of a currency war add to tensions over the ongoing US-China trade war. However, Richard Coppleson of Bell Potter has downplayed concerns about the outlook for equities, saying a bear market is unlikely. He says there is not yet an all-out trade war, while interest rates are set to remain low. Shane Oliver of AMP Capital also does not expect a bear market, although he says shares are likely to fall further in the short-term.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, TAIEX INDEX, FTSE STRAITS TIMES INDEX, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF COMMERCE, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Aussie 10-year bond yield drops below 1pc

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Original article by Patrick Commins, Vesna Poljak, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 27 : 7-Aug-19

The fallout from the escalating trade and currency war between the US and China has seen the yield on Australian 10-year government bonds fall below the cash rate for the first time. The bond yield reached a record low of 0.968 per cent on 6 August, before rising to 1.047 per cent late in trading. Meanwhile, the futures market has priced in an 0.25 per cent reduction in the cash rate by October, after the Reserve Bank left official interest rates unchanged at one per cent at its monthly board meeting.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, QIC LIMITED, ARDEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, EXANTE DATA

Big four lending at record low as competition bites

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Aug-19

Analysis by Morgan Stanley suggests that smaller Australian banks and non-authorised deposit-taking institutions are enjoying stronger growth in mortgage lending than the nation’s four largest banks. The ‘big four’ are attempting to counter this by offering incentives and aggressively reducing their interest rates, but some of the smaller lenders are matching these offers. Meanwhile, data from Australian Finance Group shows that the market share of non-bank lenders rose to a record 42 per cent in the June quarter.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN FINANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX AFG, 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, ME BANK, BENDIGO BANK, CANSTAR PTY LTD, THINKTANK, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, LA TROBE FINANCIAL PTY LTD

CBA sets banking tone with profit pressure

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 5-Aug-19

The consensus of analysts polled by Bloomberg is that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia will post a 2018-19 cash profit of $8.76bn, which would be seven per cent lower than previously. Jonathan Mott of UBS estimates that CBA has about $5bn in excess capital after completing the sale of Colonial First State Global Asset Management. He says that rather than announcing a special dividend, the bank should retain some capital until the outcome of the New Zealand Capital Review is known. Mott recently downgraded his recommendation on CBA’s stock to ‘sell’. AMP and Suncorp are among the other companies that will issue earnings reports in coming days.

CORPORATES
COMMOTION SYSTEMS, BLOOMBERG LP, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL, RECKON LIMITED – ASX RKN, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP INCORPORATED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ORD MINNETT GROUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Data laws a win for bank customers

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Original article by Supratim Adhikari, Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 20 : 2-Aug-19

Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh says open banking will boost competition and will be good for bank customers. Open banking becomes possible following the passage of the federal government’s Consumer Data Right legislation, which will make it easier for customers to change financial institutions. MoneyPlace CEO Stuart Stoyan says open banking will lead to the elimination of poor products and services, and that the big banks will actually be one of its biggest beneficiaries, despite their misgivings about the open banking reforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BANKING ASSOCIATION, MONEYPLACE PTY LTD

US Fed rate cut gives Reserve Bank cover

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Original article by Vesna Poljak, Luke Housego
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 31 : 2-Aug-19

Andrew Canobi of Franklin Templeton says the US Federal Reserve is still widely tipped to announce two further interest rate cuts over the next year. However, he says the central bank is likely to pursue less aggressive monetary policy easing than had been recently forecast, after chairman Jerome Powell signalled that the rate cut on 1 August will not be the start of "a long series of rate cuts". The more hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve will be welcomed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, as it should reduce any upward pressure on the Australian dollar.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA