BANKS AND BANKING – AUSTRALIA

New trends in banking: Digital banks and Macquarie gaining ground in 2024

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Feb-25

New data on customers’ choices in banking from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey shows that more Australians turned to newer digital banks, and Macquarie, as their Main Financial Institution (MFI) in 2024. Some 32.8% of Australians considered Commonwealth Bank to be their MFI in 2024. ANZ holds second place at 11.6%, followed by Westpac at 11.4% and NAB at 11.2%. Together, the big four banks make up 67.0% of MFI Share, down 0.6% from 2023. ING, ranked fifth, also saw a slight decline to 4.3%. Newer digital banks like ANZ Plus, ME Bank, Ubank and Up have increased their MFI Share by 0.3% to 2.0%. Macquarie Bank saw a rise of 0.4% to 1.5%, gaining ground across all age groups. Macquarie’s growth in MFI Share coincides with its increase in mortgages and deposits share. These latest banking MFI 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, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, ANZ PLUS, ME BANK, UBANK, UP, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED

NAB cuts rates ahead of Reserve

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Original article by Cameron Micallef
The Australian – Page: 19 : 4-Feb-25

National Australia Bank has pre-empted the Reserve Bank’s upcoming monetary policy decision by reducing some of its mortgage interest rates. NAB has become the first major bank to cut its fixed interest rates in 2025, although Sally Tindall from Canstar expects rival banks to do so as well. Canstar notes that NAB has reduced its fixed rates for owner-occupiers by up to 0.25 percentage points, while fixed interest rates for property investors have been cut by up to 0.3 percentage points. The RBA is widely tipped to reduce the cash rate at its board meeting in mid-February.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, CANSTAR PTY LTD

Union demands action over bank branch closures

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 14 : 22-Jan-25

The Finance Sector Union’s national secretary Julia Angrisano has urged federal government intervention to ensure that consumers still have access to bank branches. Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that 2,334 branches have been closed nationwide over the last seven years. The Bank of Queensland recently advised that it will close another 14 branches, in addition to several that were already slated to close. Agrisano says the government has failed respond to a review of banking in regional areas, where many people no longer have access to branch banks.

CORPORATES
FINANCE SECTOR UNION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ

Outsider to lead ANZ into new era

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Original article by Lucas Baird, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 17 : 10-Dec-24

The ANZ Bank has advised that Nuno Matos will succeed CEO Shayne Elliott in mid-2025. Matos was previously the head of wealth management and personal banking at HSBC; he had also been considered for the role of CEO at Westpac, although the major bank opted to replace Peter King with internal candidate Anthony Miller. High Dive from Atlas Funds Managements says an external appointment will be able to help resolve cultural issues at ANZ. These include a bond trading scandal in its markets division, which effectively ruled out the head of institutional banking Mark Whelan as Elliott’s replacement.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, HSBC BANK PLC, ATLAS FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

ANZ’s Elliott to quit after nine years

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro, Kylar Loussikian
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 23 : 9-Dec-24

The ANZ Bank is tipped to appoint an external candidate to succeed CEO Shayne Elliott, who is expected to step down within days. ANZ’s acquisition of Suncorp Bank for $4.9bn and a bond trading scandal are likely to be the key legacies of Elliott’s tenure at the helm, which began in 2016. ANZ has also scaled back its Asian operations under Elliott, while it has ramped up investment in platforms such as ANZ Plus. Meanwhile, ANZ has delivered a total return to shareholders of 111 per cent since Elliott became CEO; this higher than Westpac’s return but much lower than that of the Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, SUNCORP BANK, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

ANZ had early warning of probe

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 27-Nov-24

The ANZ Bank is continuing to attract scrutiny over its role in a $14 billion government bond placement in April 2023. The bank formally informed shareholders in mid-May 2024 that it is being investigated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission with regard to the bond placement. ASIC had served ANZ with a formal notice of investigation in February, but sources have indicated that the bank’s senior management had been aware of the regulator’s interest in the bond deal in August 2023, when it requested access to documents concerning ANZ’s role in the transaction.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

NAB sued over hardship silence

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 15 & 19 : 19-Nov-24

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has launched legal action against the National Australia Bank, alleging it breached its requirements to fairly deal with customers suffering financial hardship. ASIC claims the NAB failed to respond to at least 345 customers seeking help from it over several years, including people suffering medical emergencies and people fleeing domestic violence. The case against the NAB follows a similar case against Westpac, and ASIC chair Joe Longo noted it was a "sign of the times", with tougher economic conditions resulting in the financial sector having to deal with a rise in hardship cases.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

CBA trials AI to replace local call centre staff

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 17-Sep-24

The Commonwealth Bank is trialling a ChatGPT-style platform called Hey CommBank, with a view to use it to potentially replace thousands of local call centre staff. CBA chief data and analytics officer Andrew McMullan says he expects there will come a time when its customers have become so used to using ChatGPT-style services that it will become the way that they interact with the bank, while Finance Sector Union assistant secretary Nicole McPherson has labelled the CBA’s plans to replace local call centre staff with its Hey CommBank platform as "disrespectful and tricky".

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

ANZ’s Elliott dismisses conspiracy theory

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Original article by Lucas Baird, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 13-Sep-24

ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott has sought to downplay the impact of the scandal that has engulfed its trading room during a town hall meeting with the bank’s staff on Wednesday. The trading room is currently the subject of three separate investigations – the reporting of inflated data to a government agency, an investigation into its bond trading and allegations of serious workplace misconduct – with Elliott telling staff the ANZ’s view was that the three issues were unrelated. However, he said the media has speculated otherwise, and has "spun them into this big conspiracy theory".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

New information from Roy Morgan Small Business Research indicates that higher NPS is achieved for small business owners when their bank looks after their total business and consumer banking needs

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

New financial data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source focused on small business suggests that the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is higher among small business owners who have both a business banking and consumer banking relationship with their bank than those who only have a business banking relationship. This suggests that the deeper banking relationship created by caring for both the small business owners’ business and consumer banking needs contributes to better outcomes for the customer and enhances the prospect of a positive NPS. While banking industry NPS improved in 2020 as banks provided deferrals on loan payments to households and businesses affected by COVID, NPS has declined since early 2022 coinciding with the cost-of-living crisis, and for close to two years has been in ‘negative territory’. NPS across the banking industry overall declined from 0.9 in June 2022 to -3.8 in June 2024, a 4.7-points fall. These latest banking NPS ratings come from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year, of whom over 16,000 are small business owners and decision-makers.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED