K: Financial and Insurance Services

Economy needs rate cuts: Lowe

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 24 : 22-May-19

Financial markets have priced in a 92 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will reduce the cash rate in June, in response to comments made by governor Philip Lowe. He used an Economics Society speech on 21 May to argue that two interest rate cuts are needed to prevent an increase in unemployment and to lift inflation to the central bank’s target range. Financial markets also expect a second interest rate cut by November, and Westpac economist Bill Evans forecasts that the RBA will do so in August.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ECONOMICS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, apra use AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NOMURA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BARCLAYS BANK PLC, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS

Rise in jobless lifts chance of rate cut

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 32 : 17-May-19

Financial markets have priced in a 64 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will reduce the cash rate in June, after official data showed that the unemployment rate rose from five per cent to 5.2 per cent in April. However, George Tharenou of UBS still expects the central bank to leave interest rates on hold until July, preferring to wait for the next set of labour market data before taking action. Ben Jarman of JP Morgan forecasts a rate cut in August.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX

ASIC to rank companies by complaints

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 20 : 16-May-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission aims to increase the financial services industry’s accountability with regard to the handling of customers’ complaint. It will rank banks, insurers and superannuation funds on their performance on this issue, with the first data expected to be released by mid-2021. The move to increase the sector’s transparency has been welcomed by David Locke, the CEO of the Australia Financial Complaints Authority; it has received around 6,000 complaints per month since it was established in late 2018.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERS’ ASSOCIATION

Banks’ total Hayne bill may top $10b

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 18 : 14-May-19

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has reported cash earnings of $1.7bn for the March quarter, which is 28 per cent lower than previously. CBA’s trading update shows that it made additional pre-tax provisions of $714m for customer remediation during the quarter. The bank’s remediation costs have now topped $2.17bn in total, and it has allocated 400 employees to compensation programs. Meanwhile, Brett Le Mesurier of Shaw & Partners says the major banks and AMP have now incurred combined remediation costs of about $9bn. He adds that this could ultimately rise to around $10bn.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, SHAW AND PARTNERS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Weak housing data boosts odds of rate cut

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Original article by Sarah Turner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 14-May-19

Financial markets have priced in a 30 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will reduce the cash rate in June, following the release of the latest housing finance data. The figures show that lending fell by 3.2 per cent in March, and by 18.4 per cent year-on-year. Financial markets have now priced in a 98 per cent chance of a rate cut in August. Meanwhile, UBS expects interest rate cuts in July and August,

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

AMP steps up bid to regain lost trust

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 13-May-19

AMP CEO Francesco De Ferrari has told customers in an open letter that the wealth manager is making significant changes as it seeks to regain their trust. AMP’s reputation took a battering as a result of deficiencies in its operations that were exposed by the Hayne royal commission, with its share price falling from $5.20 to $2.45 during 2018. The letter, which has been reprinted as an advertisement in a number of newspapers, notes that AMP has made fundamental changes to its operations and has bolstered its internal processes.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Digitised lending ‘in a decade’: NAB

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-May-19

Business banking contributes almost 50 per cent of National Australia Bank’s cash earnings. Anthony Healy, the head of NAB’s business banking division, forecasts that approvals for loans to small and medium enterprises will have been fully digitised within 10 years. He notes that platforms such as Quickbiz already allows NAB to do this. Healy has downplayed speculation that he is among the leading internal candidates to permanently replace Andrew Thorburn as CEO.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, JUDO BANK PTY LTD

Odds of post-election rate cut mispriced, says Ellerston

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 31 : 10-May-19

Financial market traders have priced in a 20 per cent chance of an official interest rate cut in June, after the Reserve Bank of Australia left the cash rate on hold in May. Brett Gillespie of Ellerston Capital argues that the central bank would have wanted to avoid adjusting monetary policy during an election campaign, as it could potentially have been accused of influencing the outcome of the election. He expects a rate cut in June, stating that the RBA’s mandate requires it to do so as soon as possible.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ELLERSTON CAPITAL PTY LTD, TUDOR INVESTMENT CORPORATION, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Clock ticks on digital bank’s goals

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 21 : 9-May-19

Digital bank 86400 will seek to attract new shareholders via a capital raising that will be managed by Morgan Stanley. 86400 could potentially raise up to $250m, but CEO Robert Bell says the final amount will depend on demand from local and international investors. The company has applied for a full banking licence, and Bell expects this to be granted shortly. Rival digital bank Judo recently gained a full banking licence.

CORPORATES
86400 PTY LTD, JUDO BANK PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CUSCAL, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, ATOM BANK, METRO BANK, VOLT BANK LIMITED, XINJA BANK LIMITED, TEMENOS, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Why New Zealand moved and the RBA held

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 9-May-19

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to reduce the cash rate for the first time since 2016 had been widely expected. The central bank attributed its move to the outlook for global economic outlook and domestic factors such as the outlook for employment and inflation. Meanwhile, market pricing suggests that the Reserve Bank of Australia will leave the cash rate on hold until at least September, while a second rate cut could be delayed until May 2020.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA