K: Financial and Insurance Services

Facebook digital currency to challenge the banks

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 20 : 19-Jun-19

Social media giant Facebook has outlined plans to directly compete with financial services providers such as banks and the online payments sector. It aims to offer digital wallet and cryptocurrency products in the first half of 2020. Facebook is a founding member of the Libra Association, which will manage the Libra cryptocurrency, while its digital wallet will be called Calibra. Facebook’s plans can be expected to attract close scrutiny from Australian and international regulators, given the company’s data breach scandal in 2018.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, LIBRA ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ, UNION SQUARE VENTURES, RIBBIT CAPITAL, ALIPAY, TENCENT HOLDINGS LIMITED, AFTERPAY TOUCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX APT, ZIP CO LIMITED – ASX Z1P, APPLE INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, OFX GROUP LIMITED – ASX OFX, TRANSFERWISE, MASTERCARD INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED, VISA INTERNATIONAL, PAYPAL INCORPORATED, EBAY INCORPORATED, UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, SPOTIFY LIMITED, VODAFONE GROUP PLC, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

RBA signals more rate cuts needed

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 24 : 19-Jun-19

The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly board meeting show that it expects to further reduce official interest rates in coming months. Gareth Aird of the Commonwealth Bank anticipates rate cuts in August and November, when the central bank updates the economic forecasts in its quarterly monetary policy statements. Tom Kennedy of JP Morgan also expects a rate cut in August, although he says July remains a possibility.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX ALL ORDINARIES INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, MSCI WORLD INDEX, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

Search narrows for new NAB boss

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 21 : 19-Jun-19

National Australia Bank has declined to comment on progress regarding its search for a successor to former CEO Andrew Thorburn. However, sources have indicated that the shortlist of candidates has been trimmed and NAB has commenced a detailed assessment of internal candidates, who include Mike Baird and Anthony Healy. Thorburn stepped down in the wake of the Hayne royal commission, while NAB chairman Ken Henry will depart when a new CEO is appointed.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, RUSSELL REYNOLDS ASSOCIATES INCORPORATED, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC, BANK OF IRELAND PLC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Big banks weather deposit storm

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 18-Jun-19

Westpac and the ANZ Bank elected not to pass on the full extent of the recent cut in official interest rates to their mortgage loan customers. As a result, they have not yet made changes to their deposit rates for retail customers, which is good news for customers who use interest from their accounts to help bolster their income. However, banks cannot maintain a gap between their mortgage rates and their deposit rates for too long, as this impacts on their bottom line.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ISELECT LIMITED – ASX ISU, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL

Australian government bonds forecast to fall below 1pc

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Original article by Sarah Turner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 18-Jun-19

The yield on 10-year Australian government bonds recovered slightly to 1.39 per cent on 17 June, after falling to a record low of 1.37 per cent in the previous week. Concern about the global economic outlook is weighing on bond yields worldwide, and Sally Auld of JP Morgan says the current bearish environment could see Australia’s 10-year bond yield fall below one per cent by the end of 2019. Steve Miller of Grant Samuel Funds Management says the expectation of further official interest cuts is putting downward pressure on local bond yields.

CORPORATES
JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, GRANT SAMUEL FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, ARDEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Balanced super ahead for 10th year

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Original article by Natasha Gillezeau
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 17-Jun-19

Data from SuperRatings shows that the average balanced superannuation fund achieved a return of -0.7 per cent in May. However, the average return for balanced options so far in 2018-19 is 5.1 per cent, putting the sector on track to deliver a positive return for the financial year. SuperRatings executive director Kirby Rappell notes that the return for median balanced super funds is about 8.5 per cent over the last 10 years.

CORPORATES
SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD

Rate cut may lead to riskier investing

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Original article by Sarah Turner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 13-Jun-19

Anthony Doyle of Fidelity International says Australian savers are likely to seek out higher-yielding and higher-risk investments following the Reserve Bank’s decision to reduce the cash rate to a new low of 1.25 per cent. He notes that there was a similar trend in the UK following the global financial crisis, with Britain’s cash rate reaching a low of just 25 basis points. Doyle also expects the search for yield to bolster Australia’s corporate bond market.

CORPORATES
FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, M&G INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Stockmarket boosted as Prospa prospers on debut

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 21 : 12-Jun-19

Prospa Group’s joint CEO Beau Bertoli is upbeat about the outlook for the small business lending market, despite the slowing Australian economy. The fintech specialises in loans of between $5,000 and $300,000, and Bertoli say there is a lot of unmet demand for small business loans. Prospa’s shares peaked at $4.55 on the stock’s first day of trading on 11 June, having been issued at $3.78. Prospa has forecast a pro-forma net loss of $1.5m for fiscal 2019.

CORPORATES
PROSPA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PGL, REFINITIV, QUALITAS REAL ESTATE INCOME FUND – ASX QRI, LIFE360 INCORPORATED – ASX 360

Savers to be slugged $1.3b by rate cut

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 12-Jun-19

Data from Canstar shows that smaller banks have reduced their interest rates on at-call cash accounts by up to 30 basis points in the wake of the Reserve Bank’s official interest rate cut. The four major banks have yet to reduce their own rates on at-call accounts, but Finder’s Graham Cooke warns that is only a matter of time. It is estimated that savers’ income from the interest on at-call accounts will be slashed by around $1.3bn if the official interest rate cut is passed on in full.

CORPORATES
CANSTAR PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, FINDER.COM.AU, AMP BANK LIMITED, SUNCORP BANK, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, BANK AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, MACQUARIE CREDIT UNION LIMITED, RATECITY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Banks not passing on cut nothing new: Treasury

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 7-Jun-19

Westpac and ANZ have been criticised for withholding part of the Reserve Bank’s official interest rate cut. The central bank has cut the cash rate a total of 19 times since 2008, and analysis by the Treasury shows that there have been 13 occasions when at least one of the four major banks failed to pass on the full rate. The banks have also reduced their rates by a higher margin than the official interest rate cut on several occasions since the global financial crisis.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY