Crikey media wrap: The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut the cash rate by 0.25% to 4% today, putting pressure on banks to pass those savings onto its customers.
Banks
Kohler: lights out on an Aussie jobs bonanza
It’s hard to avoid concluding that employment and commercial property returns in Australia are going to come under a lot of pressure this year and beyond.
Joye: why lower risks mean lower bank returns
Despite much public interest in, and debate around, the major banks’ purported “gouging” and taxpayer-guaranteed status, some very fundamental questions remain unanswered, says Christopher Joye on Property Observer.
podcast Canberra Calling: The Banks who stole Christmas podcast
Crikey discusses the sickly European economy and how the banks have copped a hiding in the media this week for failing to pass on the Reserve Bank’s rate cut.
Interest rate rituals and Christmas
pantomimes
Here we go again. A year on, we’re having the same debate about banking regulation.
Political snippets: Solid growth without jobs
Yesterday’s gross domestic product figures show there is no problem in Australia at the moment about economic growth.
Crikey Says: Media’s bank-bashing ritual? Bah, humbug
Whatever would we do without a round of bank bashing stories this time of year, when all other news content is reduced to How to Baste Your Turkey and Top Ten Top Tens of 2011…
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.
Bank deposit guarantee puts the squeeze on loaners
Another emergency GFC policy — the federal government’s decision to “guarantee” bank deposits of up to $1 million — is expected to be lowered in the next few months. Its reduction to between $100,000 and $250,000 could place small and medium size lenders in a difficult position.
Our fiscal props: financial services and mining
Quick - what’s the biggest sector of the Australian economy? The answer reveals a lot about what’s happened since 2001, and what will happen in the next recession.
Aussie banks ignore the basics
NAB CEO, Cameron Clyne, is in somewhat of a tough spot. On one hand, he is charged with increasing the bank’s profits, inevitably by lending more money. However, to lend more money, banks need to have money to lend — and money is getting more expensive.
The banking point of low return
Overnight one of the world’s largest banks, HSBC Holdings, announced a massive rebound in its profitability. It also announce that it was significantly reducing its target rate for future returns.
Political snippets: Labor needs to act to avoid a hiding
Labor is in for a real public opinion hiding if the global warming debate continues to be about nothing more than who is going to pay how much more for what.
Labor exposed and under fire on mining tax
The steady drip of mining profit announcements will expose Labor’s half-baked position on a mining tax. And it has nobody to blame but itself.
Irish Labour eyes a national investment bank
Ireland is only the second country after smaller Iceland to have been bankrupted by its banks and bankers, with considerable assistance from weak politicians and corrupt businessmen.
The bank debate pollies keep avoiding
There has been little real debate yet in Australia about the changes that may be necessary to ensure that our banks do not fall victim in the future to creating the kind of financial crisis that involved costly bail-outs in other part of the world, writes Richard Farmer.
An idea for Wayne and Joe from Germany
Treasurer Wayne Swan and would-be Treasurer Joe Hockey have been mouthing platitudes for months now about how to stop banks taking advantage of borrowers, but what about superannuation investors? Time to look to Germany, suggests Richard Farmer.
Symond hot under the collar on banking reform
At a Senate Inquiry into banking regulation, Aussie Home Loans front man John Symond lambasted the Treasurer for failing to consult with non-banks. Symond’s is right that Swan’s treatment of the sector contains a dark irony, but not exactly for the reasons he espouses, writes David Llewellyn-Smith.
Banking reform isn’t just about empowering consumers
Wayne Swan has to go beyond Labor’s focus on empowering consumers to focus on the government’s role in banking. The problem is more substantial than a mere oligopoly where consumers need to be on their toes to maximise whatever is left of competition.
Political snippets: The cost of bank funds
This morning we could choose between banks exploiting consumers by raising their interest rate margins or maintaining them.
Political snippets: The bank share gets bigger
The banks’ share of the Australian finance market just keeps getting bigger
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Of cookies and Canadian banks
Crikey readers have their say.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The banks’”because they can” pricing
Crikey readers have their say.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Why the media misunderstands broadband
Crikey readers have their say.
Hockey proves it doesn’t pay to take policy risks
Yet again serious policy is being overlooked in favour of the media’s obsession with personalities and internal politics. No wonder we have a reform drought.
