AU.Latest Banking & Finance News (RSS Feed)



  • Westpac account promotion misleading
    The Australian Securities and Investments commission has taken its first scalp in its campaign against misleading advertising of banking products.
  • New survey new result
    Big banks usually lag behind the regionals in consumer surveys. It is a truism that small and friendly goes down better with the customers than big and efficient.
  • Smith says Asian bank valuations more realistic
    ANZ chief executive Mike Smith told the Australian Financial Review that valuation of potential banking acquisitions in Asia had become more attractive and underpinned his plan to give the bank a stro …
  • ANZ National first to issue offshore with NZ Govt guarantee
    ANZ National became the first New Zealand bank to issue offshore with a New Zealand Government guarantee, when it issued US$1 billion of three-year bonds in the US s144A market on Thursday.
  • BHP Billiton goes back to the bond market
    BHP Billiton has made its second benchmark size offshore bond issue in two weeks.
  • AOFM starts the next round
    The Australian Office of Financial Management announced the next group of three RMBS issues that it has mandated and one of those, Liberty Financial, launched its $600 million Liberty PRIME Series 200 …
  • Its PPIP or bust
    It is not clear how the Public-Private Investment Program, unveiled by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week, will work in practice.
  • Finanzmarktstabilisierungsergänzungsgesetz bill passed
    The German government passed the Finanzmarktstabilisierungsergänzungsgesetz bill (FMStErgG for short) the week before last. The bill allows the government to nationalise important banks in distress an …
  • Ratings roundup
    Transurban Finance Company Pty Ltd. had its A3 senior secured rating from Moody’s put on review for possible downgrade.
  • Bank stocks overshoot analysts’ targets
    Australian bank stocks have enjoyed a second strong week of trading, with the average price of the big four rising 7.9 per cent in the week ending Thursday. The ASX 200 rose 4.8 per cent.
  • State guarantee signals end of easy money for banks
    Whether the Australian government’s move to correct one of the unintended consequences of its guarantee of bank bonds, by offering a similar guarantee to the state governments, really solves any probl …
  • Woolies wins approval for modified epump scheme
    Woolworths has won the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to go ahead with its epump proposal, but only after changing its plans to overcome the regulator’s concern that it …
  • Government puts BasicsCard to tender
    The Australian government will move to a permanent card-based income management system for indigenous communities and will go to the market for a long-term solution to replace the current BasicsCard s …
  • Medicare Easyclaim off the critical list
    When the Medicare Easyclaim system was introduced in 2006 it was set a target of handling 60 per cent of payments at doctors’ surgeries by June 2008. It got to one per cent.
  • Stevens threatens regulation
    Just a day after Reserve Bank assistant governor Philip Lowe told the banking industry it needed to do more to develop competitive retail payments infrastructure, RBA governor Glenn Stevens has spoken …