CBA gets green light for BBSW settlement

June 22, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 22-Jun-18

Federal Court judge Jonathan Beach has ruled that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s $A25m settlement for manipulating the bank bill swap rate is appropriate. Justice Jonathan Beach said the magnitude of the fines should be sufficient to deter similar misconduct. However, he criticised CBA’s bank bill traders for abusing their "privileged position" and questioned the adequacy of training and monitoring of the bank’s traders.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Murray warns bank inquiry on dangers of over-reach

June 20, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 20-Jun-18

David Murray has cautioned the banking royal commission against recommending onerous sanctions against financial services providers in response to misconduct in the sector. He will use a speech on 20 June to warn that excessive regulation of lenders and financial advisers could force borrowers to seek loans from unregulated providers. Murray, who headed the federal government’s financial system inquiry, will also advocate retention of the vertically integrated model for the financial services industry.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN AUSTRALIA

Fed hikes put squeeze on banks

June 15, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Karen Maley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 28 : 15-Jun-18

The US Federal Reserve has signalled that two more interest rate increases are likely in 2018, following its second rate rise for the year. The new target range for the federal funds rate is between 1.75% and 2%, while the Reserve Bank of Australia has kept its cash rate at 1.5% for almost two years. The divergence in monetary policy has coincided with rising wholesale borrowing costs for Australia’s major banks, as well as a recent spike in the bank bill swap rate. Shane Oliver of AMP says local banks could potentially respond by increasing their mortgage rates on investment and interest-only loans.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FINANCIAL STABILITY BOARD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, SOCIETE GENERALE SA, BNP PARIBAS SA, GRUPO SANTANDER

Big four return fire on business lending

June 13, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 13-Jun-18

Australia’s major banks have used submissions to the banking royal commission’s third round of hearings to refute suggestions that they had engaged in serious misconduct. Some of the banks acknowledged that they had breached the code of banking practice with regard to small business lending, but they maintained that such transgressions were relatively minor and did not constitute a breach of the law.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE LIMITED, PIE FACE PTY LTD

Westpac ends referral deal with Prospa

June 12, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 28 : 12-Jun-18

Westpac has terminated a referral arrangement with fintech Prospa that it established in 2015. The arrangement saw Westpac refer customers that did not meet its lending criteria to Prospa; it is understood that not many referrals had been made under the agreement. The ending of the agreement is seen as being prompted by Westpac’s desire to increase the amount of unsecured loans it makes to small businesses, and comes after Prospa postponed plans to list on the Australian sharemarket.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, PROSPA GROUP LIMITED ASX PGL, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, MYOB GROUP LIMITED – ASX MYO, LIBERTY FINANCE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, FINTECH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN SMALL BUSINESS AND FAMILY ENTERPRISE OMBUDSMAN

Who’s making banking decisions for businesses – 675,000 Australians

June 12, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Jun-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that 675,000 Australians aged 14+ are involved in making decisions that relate to business banking and other financial services in an average 12-month period. The survey, which was carried out in the year to March 2018, also shows that 68.7% of these decision makers are full-time workers, well above their population proportion of 37.9%, while 64.7% have a diploma or degree (compared with 45.2% of the population). Other over-represented segments among these decision makers are men (56.2%, compared with 49.2% of the population), millennials (38.7%; population 22.3%) and the A/B socio-economic quintile (37.9%; population 20.0%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Fears as problem loans increase

June 8, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 8-Jun-18

There was an increase in the number of borrowers falling behind on their mortgage repayments in the six months to March. This suggests that there are still "tail risks" within the housing sector, despite efforts by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to crack down on riskier types of loans. Standard & Poor’s has stated that banks may tighten their lending standards as a result of the banking royal commission, and that this may make it harder for households that are trying to refinance their mortgage.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, STANDARD AND POOR’S (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, SHAW AND PARTNERS LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Banks to remain a drag on bourse, says brokers

June 8, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 30 : 8-Jun-18

Shares in Australian banks could come under further downward pressure in coming weeks as a result of tax-loss selling before the end of the financial year. David Cassidy of UBS warns that there is little prospect of a rebound in banks’ earnings in the near-term, and investors should retain "underweight" positions with regard to the sector. Richard Wiles of Morgan Stanley is also bearish about the sector, and recently downgraded share price targets for the sector by an average of seven per cent.

CORPORATES
UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, RETAIL FOOD GROUP LIMITED – ASX RFG, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED – ASX API, PERPETUAL LIMITED – ASX PPT, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, ISENTIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX ISD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, QBE INSURANCE (INTERNATIONAL) LIMITED, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, CHICAGO BOARD OPTIONS EXCHANGE VOLATILITY INDEX

CBA lacked resources to deal with data crisis

June 6, 2018roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 6-Jun-18

The minutes from a meeting of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s data governance committee in August 2016 have been submitted to the banking royal commission. They show that CBA executives were aware that insufficient funding was being allocated to data management, and 118 data quality issues had been identified. Chief risk officer David Cohen told the meeting that improving the quality of credit data was a priority, in order to satisfy the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s concerns about the quality of the data.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE

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