BANKS AND BANKING – AUSTRALIA

Banks set for earnings boost from rate hikes

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Original article by James Frost, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 1-May-17

The ANZ Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank will release their 2016-17 interim results in early May 2017, while the Commonwealth Bank will release a trading update for the third quarter of its financial year. The "big four" banks are forecast to post a combined interim cash profit of around $A16bn. Earnings are expected to have been bolstered by the banks’ recent moves to lift their interest rates for investor and interest-only home loans. Citigroup forecasts that the rate rises will boost earnings per share by up to two per cent in 2017.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSBIL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, STANDARD CHARTERED BANK MALAYSIA BERHAD, STANDARD CHARTERED BANK PLC, DNR CAPITAL PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Report pans banks’ reform resistance

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 21 : 26-Apr-17

The ANZ Bank is the only major Australian bank to have supported the key recommendations of the House of Representatives economics committee’s first report on increasing competition and governance in the industry. The recommendations included measures to make bank executives more accountable for the misconduct of employees. The Australian Labor Party still maintains the need for a royal commission into the banking sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Jobs to go at NAB as banks face cost squeeze

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 19 : 20-Apr-17

Australian banks are continuing to downsize their workforces amid rising costs, falling net interest margins and new capital requirements. The ANZ Bank has advised that it shed 35 IT jobs in early 2017, while National Australia Bank recently told staff that it intends to cut about 500 jobs. However, NAB will create 400 new jobs, with some displaced staff likely to be redeployed. There was a 2.4 per cent reduction in full-time staff in Australia’s banking industry in 2015-16.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Banks take advantage and profit from ‘general advice’

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Original article by Alice Uribe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 19-Apr-17

Financial Planning Association CEO Dante De Gori has expressed concern about the use of the term "general advice" in Australia’s financial services industry. He argues that many consumers are confused about what constitutes financial advice. The FPA advocates changing the phrase "general advice" to "general information", to ensure that consumers understand that they are being sold a financial product rather than receiving financial advice.

CORPORATES
FINANCIAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, WESTPAC SECURITIES ADMINISTRATION LIMITED, BT FUNDS MANAGEMENT

Westpac’s Maxsted talks down need for capital

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 11-Apr-17

Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted is confident that recent measures aimed at curbing investor-only home loans will be sufficient and additional intervention by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority will not be necessary. Maxsted also believes that the nation’s banks will not need to undertake further equity raisings in order to comply with new capital requirements. He adds that Westpac has prudent lending practices and will not approve loan applications for customers who may be at risk of default.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP

Bank satisfaction in February still close to record high

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Apr-17

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that satisfaction with Australian banks overall was 81.9 per cent in the six months to February 2017, compared with 82.1% in January. Customer satisfaction had peaked at a 20-year high of 82.9% in 2015, and it remains well above the long-term average of 76.9% recorded since 2005. The Commonwealth Bank remains the best performer among the big four banks, with a satisfaction level of 81.7%, followed by National Australia Bank (80.1%). The average satisfaction level for the big four in February was 79.9% (down 0.2% for the month), compared to the mutual banks’ average of 90.3% (up 0.1%). The best performers among the mutual banks were Greater Bank (95.7%) and Teachers Mutual Bank (92.2%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, GREATER BANK LIMITED, TEACHERS MUTUAL BANK LIMITED, HERITAGE BANK LIMITED – ASX HBS

Apple Pay to take bite at big three banks

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 30 : 10-Feb-17

Macquarie Bank and ING Direct customers will have access to the Apple Pay service by the end of February 2017, but the ANZ Bank is the only "big four" bank that currently offers it. The head of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, warns that the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank risk losing customers unless they embrace the global payments system. ANZ Bank has indicated that about 26 per cent of its customers use Apple Pay, while Bailey notes that Australians are now the biggest users of the service.

CORPORATES
APPLE PAY, APPLE INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, ING DIRECT, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Satisfaction with big four banks up in December but high-value customers left well behind for satisfaction and advocacy

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-17

A Roy Morgan Research Single Source survey has found that the satisfaction level of personal customers of Australia’s four major banks was 79.9% in the six months to December 2016, compared with 79.5% in November. However, the top-quintile customers (top 20%), who account for 62.9% of the total value of the financial services market across all banking and wealth-management products, had the lowest satisfaction level of all the quintiles (73.4%) and the lowest level of advocacy with a "net promoter score" (NPS3) of minus 23.9. The Commonwealth Bank had the highest satisfaction rating among top-quintile customers (75.6%), although the smaller Teachers Mutual Bank had the highest satisfaction rating among these customers, at 96.1%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, 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, TEACHERS MUTUAL BANK LIMITED, BENDIGO BANK, ING DIRECT

NAB client data sent to adult website owner

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 10-Jan-17

An error at National Australia Bank (NAB) has resulted in the transfer of the personal details of 60,000 clients to David Weissenberg’s Real Assets Limited. The business owns domain names of a sexual nature such as sexpornhost.com, porncocktail.com, supersleazy.com and adultorientatedmaterial.com. NAB has reported that Weissenberg responded positively to the bank’s request to correct the error.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, REAL ASSETS LIMITED

Banks a mixed bag for investors

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 15 : 9-Jan-17

Morgan Stanley estimates that the ANZ Bank achieved a total shareholder return of 15.7 per cent in calendar 2016, ahead of National Australia Bank with 12.9 per cent. Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank boasted total shareholder returns of 3.2 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively. The Commonwealth Bank was the top performer over a three-year period, with a TSR of 24.6 per cent. Meanwhile, Macquarie Group forecasts that National Australia Bank will perform best in 2017, with a TSR of 12.8 per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 ACCUMULATION INDEX, REGAL FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS. BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING SUPERVISION, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED