Entire ABC board under pressure to go

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Original article by Aaron Patrick, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Sep-18

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for the ABC’s whole board to be replaced following the resignation of chairman Justin Milne and the sacking of MD Michelle Guthrie. Meanwhile, Labor has called for appointments to the board to be made independently of government. The remaining board members have come under scrutiny for continuing to support Milne for several days after they had heard allegations by Guthrie that Milne had asked her to sack journalists who had been the subject of complaints by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, OZEMAIL LIMITED, MYOB GROUP LIMITED – ASX MYO, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Banks’ legal bills in mega millions

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Original article by Misa Han, Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 28-Sep-18

Australia’s four major banks have incurred significant costs associated with the financial services royal commission. Westpac’s costs in the first half of 2018 were around $34m, and it expects its costs to be similar in the second half, while National Australia Bank has advised that its inquiry-related costs could rise to $30m in the second half, up from $10m in the first half. Meanwhile, law firms will miss out on a key source of revenue, as the royal commission’s own legal work is being handled by the Australian Government Solicitor.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SOLICITOR, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH, JOHNSON WINTER AND SLATTERY

Rates gulf with US is at its widest yet

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 28-Sep-18

The divergence between official interest rates in Australian and the US has widened to its highest level since the Reserve Bank adopted inflation targeting in the 1990s. The Federal Reserve’s 25 basis point increase in the cash rate is its eighth rate rise in less than three years, while the Reserve Bank has left rates on hold since August 2016. Bloomberg expects another two US rate rises in the next year, while Australian rates could well remain on hold. Economists say a further widening of the interest rate differential could put downward pressure on the Australian dollar.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BLOOMBERG LP, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED

Beach Energy shares soar on growth plans

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 22 : 28-Sep-18

Beach Energy currently produces 26-28 million barrels of oil equivalent each year, but it has outlined plans to increase this to 34-40 million boe by 2022-23. The company will also seek to lift its free cash flow to $2.3bn within five years. The Lattice Energy assets, which Beach bought from Origin Energy for $1.59bn in 2017, will be a major growth driver. Beach took on $US1.58bn worth of debt to finance the acquisition, but CEO Matt Kay expects the company to be almost debt-free by the end of 2019-20.

CORPORATES
BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, NEW ZEALAND OIL AND GAS LIMITED, OMV AG, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

Digital inclusion improving across Australia, but digital divide continues to widen

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Sep-18

The release of the third Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) shows that, with the exception of the Northern Territory, digital inclusion is improving in all states and territories, with Australians also spending more time online than ever before. The Index has been developed and produced by researchers at RMIT University’s Digital Ethnography Research Centre and the Centre for Social Impact at Swinburne University of Technology, in partnership with Telstra and Roy Morgan, and measures digital inclusion by analysing three factors; access, affordability and digital ability. The ADII is based on data from more than 16,000 Australians captured in the annual cycle of the Roy Morgan Single Source survey.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, RMIT UNIVERSITY, SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Satisfaction with banks declines during Finance Royal Commission but remains positive

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Sep-18

New research from Roy Morgan shows that bank customer satisfaction has declined from 81.2% in the six months to January 2018, prior to the Finance Royal Commission, to 78.9% in the six months to August 2018, which is unchanged from July. The decline of 2.3% points since January has resulted in the lowest satisfaction rating since June 2012, but it remains above the long-term average of 74.2%. Meanwhile, the level of dissatisfaction with banks is low and has increased only marginally from 4.9% in January to 5.7%. The combination of the 15.4% of bank customers who are indifferent to their relationship with their bank (i.e. neither satisfied or dissatisfied) and those who are dissatisfied (5.7%), means that more than one in five (21.1%) bank customers pose a potential threat to customer retention, up from 18.9% in January 2018 but well below the 2001 level of 40.1%. Roy Morgan’s "Customer Satisfaction-Consumer Banking in Australia August Report" is based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes, including over 4,000 bank customers per month.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Satisfaction with Industry Superannuation Funds lead Retail Funds at top end

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Sep-18

New results from Roy Morgan shows that in the six months to August 2018, satisfaction with the financial performance of industry superannuation funds was 71.5% for all balances over $100,000. This compares with a satisfaction rating of 63.0% for retail funds with balances of at least $100,000. Over the last 12 months, industry funds had an overall gain in satisfaction of 3.9% points, ahead of the 0.9% point improvement for retail funds. The biggest improvement for industry funds was in the $700,000+ segment, where satisfaction improved by 6.4% points. Retail funds only showed improved satisfaction for balances below $250,000 and declining satisfaction for higher balances, where 64.5% of the superannuation funds are held. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s "Satisfaction with Financial Performance of Superannuation in Australia Report", which is based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes, including over 30,000 with superannuation.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Google wins Mobile Phone Handset of the month for first time

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Sep-18

Google has won the Roy Morgan Mobile Phone Handset Customer Satisfaction Monthly Award for August 2018. With its Google phones, such as Pixel and Nexus, Google achieved a customer satisfaction rating of 94%, just ahead of long-time favourite Apple iPhone on 92%. The victory for Google is its first in the mobile handset category after launching the Google Pixel in 2013 and the Google Nexus in 2010. Google increased customer satisfaction for its phones by an impressive 6% over the last year; customer satisfaction for Apple iPhone was virtually unchanged (down 1%) and is now level with the other big improver over the past year, Motorola (up 8% to 92%). Meanwhile, analysis shows that Millennials are the most likely generation to have a Google phone. Over 40% of Google phones in Australia are owned by Millennials.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, MOTOROLA INCORPORATED, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY LIMITED

The next generation of Helix Personas has arrived!

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Sep-18

Roy Morgan has launched the next generation of its world-class psychographic customer segmentation and data integration tool, Helix Personas, offering clients the most powerful way yet to boost their marketing return-on-investment. The next generation of Helix Personas reveals the story of every Australian at an intimate, granular level and divides Australians into 54 unique mindsets, or "Personas", grouped into six communities. Based on thousands of psychographic and behavioural data points, Helix Personas is the world’s only psychographic segmentation and data integration platform that provides the building blocks capable of binding disparate data sets together – helping clients unlock why people buy and what they will buy next. Psychographics are important as they explain "why" a consumer buys whereas demographics explain "who" the consumer is.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

‘Standards have deteriorated’: Malcolm Turnbull weighs in on ABC accusation

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Original article by Matthew Knott
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 27-Sep-18

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says there has been a decline in the ABC’s editorial standards in recent years. Turnbull has confirmed that he had raised concerns about the quality of the public broadcaster’s coverage with chairman Justin Milne and other members of the ABC’s board. However, he stresses that he has never complained about any perceived bias in the ABC’s coverage or requested that any ABC staffer be dismissed. Turnbull add that it is the ABC board’s responsibility to address unfair or inaccurate reporting.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET