BANKS AND BANKING – AUSTRALIA

NAB takes axe to 2,500 jobs as economy falters

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 21-Oct-26

National Australia Bank expects its 2026-27 financial accounts to include a pre-tax restructuring charge of about $300m, after revealing plans to shed six per cent of its workforce. NAB will intially shed 1,500 jobs by the end of 2026, and a further 1,000 positions by June 2027. The job cuts are expected to be focused on back-office roles, rather than customer-facing staff; NAB says the move is aimed at simplifying its operations. NAB has also advised that 180 jobs will be shifted offshore; it already has more than 5,000 workers in India and 2,000 in Vietnam.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

CBA staff stand-off ends with 13pc pay rise deal

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Original article by Jack Derwin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 14-Oct-26

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has secured an in-principle deal with the Finance Sector Union for a new enterprise agreement, following six months of negotiations. The wage deal includes pay rises over three years across the bank’s operations, with the size of the increases linked to pay bands; it includes a pay rise of 13 per cent over three years for the bank’s lowest-paid employees. The FSU says the pay deal will set a strong starting point for negotiations with the nation’s other major banks over the next year. The CBA has also agreed to establish an artificial intelligence committee.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

Westpac: 70pc of employees use AI daily

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 16-Sep-26

Westpac has told investors that more than 95 per cent of its employees now use artificial intelligence tools at least once a month, compared with 69 per cent at the start of 2026. Meanwhile, more than 70 per cent of the bank’s staff have integrated AI tools into their everyday workflow, up from just 14 per cent in January. AI tools have also reduced the timeline for migrating St George customers to Westpac’s banking platform by two years. Westpac’s chief data, digital and AI officer Andrew McMullan says the banking industry is undergoing one of the most significant shifts it has ever seen.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED

Investors screwed over as BHP keeps rising

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 26-Aug-26

BHP’s share price has risen by 13 per cent so far in August, reaching a new record high yesterday. The resources giant now accounts for nearly 12 per cent of the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index, compared with just 7.4 per cent at around this time last year. In contrast, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s shares have fallen by 11 per cent so far this month, and its weighting in the ASX 200 has fallen from nearly 12 per cent to 10.5 per cent in the last year. Fund managers who missed out on CBA’s stellar rise in 2025 are now facing the same issue with BHP.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX

ING, Suncorp Bank and Bendigo Bank home loan customers are the most satisfied with their bank after three interest rate rises

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Jul-26

New financial data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source shows that ING has topped the latest banking customer satisfaction ratings among home loan customers. ING’s home loan customer satisfaction rating is a market leading 92.1%, up 0.9% points from a year ago. In second place is Suncorp Bank, which completed its merger with ANZ almost two years ago; customer satisfaction among Suncorp’s home loan customers is 87.1%, up 2.3% points on a year ago. Filling out the top four banks are Bendigo Bank on 84.1% (up 1.6% points on a year ago) and Macquarie on 79.7% (up 0.4% points). Meanwhile, NAB now has the highest home loan customer satisfaction rating among the big four banks, with a rating of 78.8%, and the largest increase in customer satisfaction compared to a year ago, up 6.5% points. The latest data covers the six months to May 2026, and overall home loan customer satisfaction amongst Australia’s top banks collectively was at 78.3% during this period; this represents a collective increase of 4.2% points from a year ago. The atest banking satisfaction ratings come from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SUNCORP BANK, BENDIGO BANK, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

ANZ chief urges back to future for banks

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Original article by Angira Bharadwaj, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 11-Jun-26

Australia’s major banks largely withdrew from sectors such as wealth management and insurance in the wake of the Hayne royal commission. However, the ANZ Bank’s CEO Nuno Matos contends that they should re-enter these sectors in order to boost profitability and address the sharp decline in their return on capital over the last decade or so. Meanwhile, Matos expects the federal government’s budget changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing to result in lower growth in demand for both home loans and lending to property investors

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

CBA plans to retrain workers to head off anger over job cuts

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 25-Feb-26

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will launch a new skills program that aims to retrain its staff and provide them with the AI skills and other expertise that will be needed in the future. CEO Matt Comyn says employers have an obligation to help workers to build up their AI skills, and he argues that Australian companies must embrace AI technology in order to remain internationally competitive. CBA’s focus will be on training staff in areas that will be in demand, with the aim of shifting thousands of workers into higher-value roles. Meanwhile, CBA has advised of another 300 job cuts across its banking and human resources teams, although they have not been specifically linked to AI.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Elliott drops legal case against ANZ over unpaid bonus

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Original article by Angira Bharadwaj, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 25-Feb-26

The ANZ Bank withheld some $32m worth of bonuses to some current and former executives in 2025, in response to the regulatory failing that resulted in a record fine. The executives included former CEO Shayne Elliott, who subsequently pursued legal action to recover more than $13.5m in bonuses that had been cancelled. Elliott contended that ANZ had breached the terms of his departure by withholding his bonuses. The bank has welcomed Elliott’s decision to abandon the lawsuit, and has advised that both parties will pay their own legal costs. Elliott is entitled to an additional $8m worth of future bonuses, which may also be in doubt.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Macquarie’s plan to grab more market share in deposits

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 11-Feb-26

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that Macquarie Bank’s household deposits topped $100bn for the first time in December. Macquarie’s deposits grew by 3.6 per cent in December, outperforming all other banks. Head of personal banking Ben Perham says Macquarie aims to increase its market share with regard to term deposits, which is curently one per cent; in contrast, its share of transaction and savings accounts is now seven per cent. Meanwhile, its home loan market share has risen to 6.8 per cent, and Perham says it is approving mortgage loans "considerably faster" than other lenders.

CORPORATES
MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Big four banks cash in on zero interest

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Original article by Max Aitchison
The Australian – Page: 13 & 14 : 21-Jan-26

Analysis by Jarden shows that customers of Australia’s four major banks hold a combined $320bn in transaction and business accounts that do not pay any interest. This equates to about 10 per cent of each of the four major banks’ total deposits, and nearly 20 per cent of the estimated $1.7trn in deposits held by all of the nation’s lenders. Jarden’s analysis also shows that the four big banks’ implied earnings from zero-interest accounts have risen sharply in recent years. Matt Wilson from Jarden says the major banks have benefited from customer loyalty and inertia in recent years; he adds that this may change in 2026, and customers may begin seeking better deals for their bank deposits.

CORPORATES
JARDEN GROUP LIMITED