Around the world, bank executives are squealing at the proposed toughening of their capital and liquidity requirements and, around the world, regulators are ignoring them and pressing ahead.
Australian banks
Gottliebsen: a perfect storm for Aussie banks
Suddenly, the year 2012, which promised so much, is starting to look as though it will be ugly for the banking business, writes Robert Gottliebsen.
Gottliebsen: downgrade a wake-up call for our banks
Standard & Poor’s ratings downgrade is delivering to Australian banks a much needed wake-up call which bank CEOs will ignore at their peril, writes Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator.
Maley: spotting the big four’s euro bonus
Australian companies are already feeling the sting of the European debt crisis, as banks move to push up interest rates they charge to reflect growing turmoil in global financial markets.
Bartholomeusz: NAB keeps five to stay alive
Wayne Swan’s attack on National Australia Bank, labelling it “greedy” for “only” passing onto home loan borrowers 20 basis points of the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point reduction in official interest rates, is churlish and betrays a poor memory.
Bartholomeusz: banks battening down for funding freeze
According to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman John Laker, bank funding markets are already demonstrating some crisis-like features.
Australia now needs to fill a $130 billion dollar hole
Around 40 of Australia’s biggest financial deposit taking groups will get lender of last resort facilities from the Reserve Bank, just as banks did years ago, and just as they did in the December quarter of 2008 when the GFC was shutting down world and local markets.
Bartholomeusz: Swan’s curious credit obsession
It’s peculiar that the nation’s treasurer is obsessed with trying to organise more and cheaper credit even as his central banks tries to do the opposite.
Bank reforms best described as minor but deliverable promises
The abolition of mortgage exit fees from mid-2011 will hurt smaller lenders far more than it will the larger ones, writes Tom Elliott, managing director of MM&E Capital Limited
Swan’s mousey bank plan the nastiest extension of taxpayer support
The whole argument over banks is a charade confected in Canberra by Joe Hockey, Tony Abbott and the gutless Gillard government, along with the cynical, scheming Greens.
Bartholomeusz: the risks in Swan’s reforms
Glenn Stevens has helped the cause of those who think Wayne Swan’s banking “reforms” are a response to a problem that has yet to be demonstrated.
Banks’ job a simple one … but they do it poorly
Many commentators erroneously point to the so-called heroic role played by Australian banks in steering Australia through the GFC, when it was the Australian taxpayer that saved the banks.
Hill’s heresy a good role model for Australian banks
Vernon Hill’s business model was almost diametrically opposite to the risky practices of Australian banks, which almost go out of their way to alienate depositors.
Political snippets: Boredom Baillieu’s only hope
The only thing Ted Baillieu can hope for is that feelings of boredom cause voters to do something strange on Saturday.
Gottliebsen: bankers must leave their bunkers
The boards of the four major Australian banks have appointed chief executives with a communication skills gap, writes Robert Gottliebsen from Business Spectator.
Aussie banks let off the global capital, liquidity rules hook
Australian banks look like they will escape the full weight of the new, stringent global capital and liquidity rules.
Mungo MacCallum: For Gillard, banks a perfect opportunity to get on with it
Julia Gillard is there to govern and must be seen to be doing so. To be — how should one put it? — moving forward. Banks may be providing her a perfect opportunity to do so.
Political snippets: Banks’ signals make things clear
You have got to love the ingenuity of politicians and public officials when they fell under pressure to be seen by the public to be doing something about a problem.
Govt will help small business … but no Canadian-style bank
Does Australia need a small business bank? Canada has one, Britain financiers are planning one, but the Australian government has rejected the need. Oliver Milman from Startup Smart reports.
Housing bubble and banks … time for disclosure and context
There’s nothing wrong with exploring the issue of high home prices and their impact on our banks and the economy, just that the claims have to be given full context.
When it comes to debt collecting, banks not always the villain
Debt, like capital or labour, is a scarce resource — it is the role of banks to ensure that debt is allocated efficiently. But baks are not always the greedy, fat-cat evil characters they are made out to be.
We don’t need stronger banks, we need stronger regulation
We don’t need stronger banks, we need stronger regulation. And if that doesn’t work we should have a super profits tax on the banks, writes Dr Richard Denniss.
Bartholomeusz: robbing the banks helps nobody
One only has to look at Europe or the US to be reminded that far worse than a banking system that is too profitable is one that is unprofitable, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz of Business Spectator.
A stress-test too far for Europe
Depending on balance sheet growth, the four big Australian banks will have to raise roughly $150 billion over the next 2-3 years — in competition with the rest of the international sector and governments, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.
