K: Financial and Insurance Services

ING gains as customers flee the big banks

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 14-Mar-19

The number of customers for whom ING Australia is their main bank has risen by 57 per cent in the last year, to 645,000. This compares with just 100,000 customers in 2013. ING Australia CEO Uday Sareen says positive advocacy from the digital-only bank’s existing customers has been a major of its recent growth, which has also coincided with the Hayne royal commission. ING Australia booked a statutory net profit of $401m in 2018, an increase of 15 per cent, while deposits grew by nine per cent to $43.4bn.

CORPORATES
ING AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, APPLE PAY, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

AustralianSuper declares war on DIY funds

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 13-Mar-19

AustralianSuper CEO Ian Silk will use a speech in Brisbane on 13 March to argue for greater regulation of self-managed superannuation funds. He will tell the Conference of Major Super Funds of the need for an inquiry into the performance of SMSFs. Research by the Productivity Commission has concluded that SMSFs that hold less than $500,000 tend to perform much worse than regular super funds. Silk will also argue that super funds which consistently underperform should not be allowed to remain in business.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, CONFERENCE OF MAJOR SUPERANNUATION FUNDS (CMSF) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

NAB customers get $110m compo

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 19 & 23 : 13-Mar-19

National Australia Bank has disclosed that 310,000 customers have collectively been paid $110m over the fee-for-no-service scandal since mid-2018. Acting CEO and chairman-elect Phil Chronican has also used a letter to shareholders to concede that much more work needs to be done at NAB, and he has stressed the need to ensure that the bank always get things right for customers. Meanwhile, chief people officer Lorraine Murphy has become the first NAB executive to resign since the recent leadership changes.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

AMP and Clayton Utz roll over for ASIC

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

An AMP spokesperson has confirmed that it has withdrawn its claim of legal and professional privilege over documents sought by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission regarding the fee-for-no-service scandal. Clayton Utz had been involved in the claim; the documents in question included notes taken by Clayton Utz in interviews with AMP employees over the scandal. ASIC deputy commissioner Daniel Crennan attacked AMP for trying to delay its investigation, although he said it was pleased that the sought documents had now been released.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, CLAYTON UTZ

Banks get a damning ASIC report card

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Original article by Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 18 : 12-Mar-19

Australia’s four major banks and AMP have set aside over $1 billion to compensate customers who were impacted by the fee-for-no-service scandal. However, along with Macquarie, they have been attacked by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for the time it is taking them to identify and compensate customers who were affected by the scandal. ASIC has also criticised the big four banks, AMP and Macquarie for not conducting further reviews of the systemic failures that led to the scandal in the first place.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Westpac, CBA flooded with new customer complaints

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Original article by James Eyers, James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 9-Mar-19

There are now nearly 1,000 outstanding customer complaints against the Commonwealth Bank, with new complaints surging in the wake of the banking royal commission. The number of such complaints against Westpac is 1,800. Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer has suggested one of the reasons for the surge in complaints has been publicity concerning the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Both Hartzer and CBA CEO Matt Comyn are supportive of moves that would assist consumers and community lawyers to take actions against banks.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Chronican to steer NAB out of trouble

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 7-Mar-19

National Australia Bank’s interim CEO Phil Chronican will succeed Ken Henry as chairman. There had been speculation that Chronican could be a contender to replace Andrew Thorburn as CEO, but Chronican says he did not want to commit to the arduous role of CEO on a permanent basis. Chronican adds that he does not expect the process of recruiting Thorburn’s successor to take very long. Henry and Thorburn both resigned following the release of the Hayne royal commission’s final report, which heavily criticised both men.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Dollar dives on expected cut to RBA cash rate

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 27 : 7-Mar-19

The Australian dollar fell to a two-month low in local trading on 6 March, in response to the latest GDP data, while the money market has now fully priced in an official interest cut by October. Meanwhile, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has told a business summit that the central bank still has the flexibility to raise or lower the cash rate as required. He also said the downturn in house prices is unlikely to affect economic growth.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, NOMURA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED

Resources strength holds up reporting season

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 28 : 5-Mar-19

Paul Winter of UBS notes that Australia’s latest February reporting season featured more earnings downgrades than upgrades for the first time in the last four years. Hasan Tevfik of MST Marquee adds that while the reporting season was better than expected, this was largely due to a strong performance by the resources sector, which offset weakness in other sectors. Earnings-per-share growth for S&P/ASX 200 stocks is now forecast to be 6.3 per cent in 2018-19, compared with 7.6 per cent in 2017-18.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MST MARQUEE, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

S&P cuts AMP rating, more action to come

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 5-Mar-19

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded AMP’s credit rating from ‘A’ to ‘A-‘ in the wake of the wealth manager’s decision to sell its life insurance arm. S&P has flagged the potential for a further downgrade once the sale is completed, noting that the deal will affect AMP’s creditworthiness. Rival ratings agency Moody’s Investor Services recently downgraded the credit rating of AMP Life after it posted a 2018 operating loss of $176m.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AMP LIFE LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, AMP BANK LIMITED, RESOLUTION LIFE GROUP LIMITED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED