Australia’s banking systems have a weakness – our so-called ‘funding gap’ – and it’s time to bring that weakness into the open, given that ANZ is this week deciding whether to lift mortgage interest rates, writes Robert Gottliebsen.
ANZ
Doom-laden forecasts rejected by central banking heavy hitter
The tensions continue to go out of the tight conditions in global banking, especially in the eurozone.
Bartholomeusz: banks rattle the rates cage
Having had a week to think about ANZ’s bold move to distance itself from future Reserve Bank rate decisions, two of its peers have passed up the opportunity provided by their AGMs this week to announce they would emulate it.
Kohler: the big four’s cloak-and-dagger dance
One of the more bizarre rituals of global finance is the Australian Monetary Policy Dance, where we all wait to see whether an adjustment to official interest rates is “passed on”.
Bank stand-off over interest rate cut
Crikey media wrap: The Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates by 0.25% earlier this week has turned into a stand-off with ANZ the only one of the Big Four banks to pass the cuts on to customers.
Mortgage, interest rate cuts war as serious as the Nullarbor Nymph
Yes, the big four: CBA, ANZ, Westpac and NAB are sitting back and waiting for one of them to bolt from cover, so they others can get a lead on how much of the 0.25% rate cut to pass on.
Our big four banks still among the world’s most creditworthy
Australia’s AAA sovereign rating from all three ratings groups is another reason the impact on funding costs will be minimal.
Save the gloom for offshore: our economy is performing well
There’s plenty of bad economic news offshore but the Australian economy remains well-placed, whatever commentators might say, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.
Memo to the banks: the housing party’s over
While many Australians realise that the housing party is over — the Financial Review reported that first “buyers joy turns to despair” — there are still a few who haven’t quite read the memo.
Gottliebsen: how Swan gave our banks a hot flush
This month big banks have more money to lend than they ever dreamed of, which is a hidden force behind the banking price war, writes Robert Gottliebsen, of Business Spectator.
Church campaign gets a win: ANZ turns its back on cluster bombs
ANZ will no longer have anything to do with weapons such as cluster bombs and land mines, after pressure from the Uniting Church prompted a change in lending policy.
Reputation management 101
Two weeks after ANZ won the Dow Jones Sustainability Index award for the being the world’s most sustainable bank, it lent $150 million to one of the most polluting coal plants in Australia and insisted on keeping its name confidential. Hypocritical much? asks John Hepburn.
BHP 3rd most valuable company as Liberal bank holdings hit $28m
With the federal government warning of revenue shortfalls on its new mineral resources rent tax courtesy of the surging dollar, it is clear BHP-Billiton could comfortably afford to pay billions more in tax if the MRRT variables were tweaked.
ANZ’s Mike Smith is the problem … Hockey is offering solutions
The ANZ’s Mike Smith and Wayne Swan don’t want to acknowledge the reality that Joe Hockey’s banking regulation proposals are anything but “out there”. Just ask the IMF.
Can we bank on business to take the environmental lead?
The Greenpeace campaign against ANZ raises an interesting question: Is there a responsibility on bankers to become society’s police when politicians fail to act? asks Climate Spectator’s Giles Parkinson.
Is the ANZ supporting the Cambodian military?
Is an ANZ subsidiary involved in a scheme to fund and support Cambodian military units? The bank is claiming it’s all a really epic typo, but the ABC doesn’t sound so sure.
Do banks really give crap customer service?
With all the bad press that banks receive, The Punch decided to put five banks to the test in a bit of old fashioned role playing, testing the speed, efficiency and friendliness of their customer service.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: ANZ cleaners eat their lunch in windowless rooms
ANZ may seem forward thinking, except they have two standards of lunch rooms: one for normal workers, one for cleaners and the like. Guess which one has no windows and is down in the bowels of building?
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: more Chantelois appearance?
Mike Rann is attending a function at the Adelaide Intercontinental Hotel tonight at 7pm. Has Michelle Chantelois been tipped off, and will she make an appearance? Plus, rotten news for Macquarie Bank’s staff in the Big Apple.
Feds tell banks ‘there are no guarantees’
The federal government is finally withdrawing its guarantees to banks and the state governments that allowed both groups to have a good recession. The measures kept our banks alive, but they gave the Big Four too much power.
Uni campus’ reloadable ANZ card draws some heat
In an Australian first, Sydney University and ANZ have announced an all-in-one access card, ID card and Visa reloadable prepaid card, as part of a move towards a “cash-free campus”, writes Bhakthi Puvanenthiran.
Aussie bankers doing fee-nominally well
Executives at our biggest banks continue to enjoy a myriad benefits, the Big Four being among the most generous remunerators of executives in business. But lower-paid workers have not been so lucky.
Variety is the space of life for big-spending ANZ
NZ shareholders will be hoping that their $500,000 boardroom table is a better investment than a$1400 rubbish bin
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: a vicious newspaper turf war?
Rumours are rife in suburban Brisbane that Fairfax or APN is about to make a move and take on Quest Newspapers in what promises to be a vicious turf war in the community newspaper market.
