FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY – AUSTRALIA

Banks abandon plan to mothball payment system by 2030

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 17-Dec-25

AusPayNet’s chairman John Brogden has advised that it has postponed plans to decomission the Bulk Electronic Clearing System by mid-2030. Financial payments are processed in batches overnight via BECS; however, it was to be phased out in favour of the New Payments Platform, which processes such transactions in real-time. AusPayNet’s decision follows discussions with banks, large companies and government departments, which expressed concern that the NPP may not be ready to handle bulk payments by the former deadline.

CORPORATES
AUSPAYNET

Super funds told to help bailout plan

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Original article by Lucas Baird
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 19 : 10-Dec-25

The federal government will require the superannuation sector to contribute to the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort for the first time. The government intends to impose a ‘special levy’ on the super industry to help cover the scheme’s expected funding shortfall of $47.3m for the current financial year. Banks, financial advisers and stockbrokers are amongst the financial services providers that usually fund the CSLR via a levy. There has been ongoing concern about the viability of the CSLR since it was established to compensate refund victims of financial misconduct in cases where the provider is insolvent or otherwise lacks the capacity to pay.

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Trust in banking and finance industries – including all big four banks – increases significantly over the last 12 months

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

Roy Morgan measures trust and distrust across 27 industries and over 200 key Australian brands on an ongoing basis. A special deep dive into trust and distrust in the banking and finance industry shows a remarkable recovery in levels of trust and a reduction in distrust for the industry over the last 12 months. The Banking industry itself is now the 14th most trusted industry in Australia, up 10 spots from a year ago, lifted higher by rising trust and decreasing distrust in the big four banks. In addition, the Insurance industry is up five spots and is now the 12th most trusted industry. The Payments, Cards and Loans industry is up three places to 7th and the Superannuation and Wealth Management industry is up three positions to 6th overall. These four industries have improved more than any other sectors over the last 12 months.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards 2024: the best brands in banking and finance

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Apr-25

The 2024 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards were presented in April. A total of 12 awards in the banking and finance categories were awarded – included many companies which backed up on wins a year ago. There were two first time winners, two previous winners returning to the winner’s circle, and six companies continuing their winning streaks. P&N Bank won the Bank of the Year after collecting six monthly satisfaction awards and placed highly in the overall ‘Best of the Best’ Award with an average customer satisfaction rating of 91.6% – the second highest of any banking or finance brand. Major Bank of the Year was again won by the Commonwealth Bank after winning seven monthly satisfaction awards during 2024; this was the CBA’s 12th straight win as the Major Bank of the Year. Perth-based RAC has won the Major General Insurer of the Year award, with a perfect record of 12 monthly satisfaction awards and a sixth straight win in the category. UniSuper has won the Industry Super Fund of the Year award for a third straight year, with nine monthly satisfaction awards, and the overall Super Fund of the Year for a second straight year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, P&N BANK, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, RAC INSURANCE PTY LTD, UNISUPER LIMITED

Finance sector has gender balance – except the pay gap

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Original article by Helen Trinca
The Australian – Page: 15 : 4-Mar-25

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s latest annual report shows that women now comprise 53 per cent of workers in Australia’s banking, finance and insurance sector. However, the report notes that the gender pay gap in this sector is 22.3 per cent, compared with the national pay gap of 12.1 per cent. The average gender pay gap for the nation’s four major banks ranges from 18.8 per cent to 22.4 per cent; in contrast the average pay gap at Morgan Stanley is 58.6 per cent, although its base salary gap is just 37.3 per cent. Meanwhile, women comprise just 36 per cent of the top remuneration quartile in the financial services industry, and predominantly work in roles that have lower pay.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AGENCY

Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards 2023: the best brands in banking and finance

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

The 2023 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards were presented in Melbourne in mid-April. There were a total of 12 awards in the banking and finance categories, including many companies which backed up on wins a year ago. There were four first time winners, two previous winners returning to the winner’s circle and four companies continuing their winning streaks. One of the most impressive first-time winners was P&N Bank, which won the Bank of the Year award, while the Major Bank of the Year was again won by the Commonwealth Bank after winning nine monthly satisfaction awards during 2023. There were two standouts in the superannuation categories during 2023, with UniSuper winning the Industry Super Fund of the Year for a second straight year and the overall Super Fund of the Year, while Australian Ethical was a first-time winner of the Retail Super Fund of the Year. There were six award winners for the insurance categories, with Australian Unity winning all 12 monthly satisfaction awards to be awarded the Private Health Insurer of the Year – Retail for the first time. Other winners included back-to-back winners RAC (Major General Insurer of the Year) and Real Insurance (Risk & Life Insurer of the Year).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, P&N BANK, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, UNISUPER LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL SUPERANNUATION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN UNITY LIMITED, RAC INSURANCE PTY LTD, REAL INSURANCE

Scams help drive unsustainable increase in complaints about banks, finance firms to AFCA

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Original article by Loretta Florance, Leonie Thorne
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Jan-24

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has advised that it received over 100,000 complaints in 2023, the most in its five-year history. 8,987 related to scams, up from 4,611 in 2022, and AFCA CEO David Locke says he hopes that 2024 will be the year that anti-scam initiatives by industry and government finally disrupt what he contends is a "serious and organised crime". AFCA’s dispute resolution scheme is intended to be a last resort for consumers, if they cannot get a solution by dealing directly with their bank, but Locke claims the volume of complaints escalated to AFCA is increasing at an "unsustainable rate", and that financial service firms need to do a better job of resolving customer complaints.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Bendigo Bank, AustralianSuper, PayPal and NRMA Insurance are Australia’s most trusted finance and insurance brands

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Nov-23

The Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards for 2023 in the key finance and insurance categories have been presented to Bendigo Bank, PayPal, AustralianSuper, NRMA Insurance and HBF. Other finalists in these categories included the Commonwealth Bank, ING, American Express, QSuper, Australian Ethical and insurance brands RAC, RACQ, HCF and Bupa. The Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards bring together outstanding companies and brands from across a range of industries to celebrate and recognise the unmatched levels of trust these organisations hold when compared to their competitors in their respective categories.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BENDIGO BANK, PAYPAL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, NRMA LIMITED, HBF HEALTH LIMITED

Openpay not the last BNPL failure

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 15 : 8-Feb-23

Splitit CEO Nandan Sheth warns that more ‘buy now, pay later’ providers are likely to collapse, after Openpay was placed in the hands of receivers from McGrathNicol. Sheth contends that Openpay’s business model was "fundamentally flawed", and he is not surprised about the company’s demise. He notes that many BNPL providers focus on subprime consumers who may not have credit; he adds that Splitit uses a customer’s existing credit from a credit card issuer, while it deals with merchants rather than consumers. Openpay has retrenched about 80 employees and shut down its platform, and McGrathNicol is seeking a buyer for the company.

CORPORATES
OPENPAY GROUP LIMITED – ASX OPY, McGRATH NICOL AND PARTNERS SERVICES PTY LTD, SPLITIT PAYMENTS LIMITED – ASX SPT

Openpay collapses, shuts down platform as shares suspended

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 7-Feb-23

Barry Kogan, Jonathan Henry and Rob Smith from McGrathNicol have been appointed as receivers and managers of Openpay. The ‘buy now, pay later’ provider has advised that customers will now longer be able to use its platform to make new purchases, although they must pay all outstanding balances. Openpay listed on the Australian sharemarket in 2019 following an IPO that raised $50m. Josh Gilbert of trading platform eToro says the BNPL sector has gone from "hero to zero" among investors in recent months. Rival BNPL provider Laybuy recently announced that it will delist.

CORPORATES
OPENPAY GROUP LIMITED – ASX OPY, McGRATH NICOL AND PARTNERS SERVICES PTY LTD, ETORO, LAYBUY GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LBY