Busy times at ANZ — it’s moved to take over 100% of ING’s trans-Tasman wealth management and life insurance operations. And today it opens its first regional branch in China. Could AMP be next? asks Adele Ferguson.
Banks 
Which bank will be next to blow?
It’s the newest spectator sport for the finance industry: predicting which bank will go down the gurgler next. The Daily Beast attends to all your bookmaking needs with odds for all the big banks.
A super way to open up the mortgage sector
Commonwealth Bank and Westpac and their subsidiaries now control over 85% of all new mortgages. Adam Barker suggests a way to break the banks’ stranglehold.
Why the GFC will happen again
At the nadir of the GFC, few ideas seemed too extreme for consideration to overhaul the regulation of banks, write Theo Francis and Peter Coy. But the G20’s weakened reform plan won’t give the system the kick in the pants it needs.
Australian banks in a league of their own
Australian banks shouldn’t be too aggrieved by the changes to global banking rules that have been drafted this week in the Swiss city of Basle.
Cheap money fuels takeover splurge
The past week has seen two big takeover attempts that tell us that the financial alchemists and spin doctors are out peddling their wares again: last week it was Disney and Marvel, overnight it was Kraft bidding for Cadbury.
Is ANZ becoming a non-major?
As ANZ seeks to become a ‘super-regional’ Asian bank, its focus will shift away from serving the Australian economy. And yet its day-to-day solvency is currently guaranteed by Australian taxpayers. Risky business, says Christopher Joye. Read ANZ’s response here.
Political economy: RBA sits easy
Australia’s central bank decided, in line with most expectations, to stay with its “emergency” low interest rates yesterday. What next?
Why banks needed the RBA to raise rates
Now that the RBA has kept interest rates on hold — and no-one knows when they’ll rise again — banks are wondering how they’ll pass on the higher cost of funds without PR fallout, says Elizabeth Knight.
The Dyer Index: life gets tougher for US banks
The continuing good news on the American economy overnight has obscured the dire plight of the country’s remaining 8195 banks.
Are the days of the Swiss bank account numbered?
That ultimate Swiss accessory has been undermined with the country agreeing to recognise the crimes of money laundering and insider trading. If tax evasion crumbles, what next? asks Holman W Jenkins.
Corrupt world of cross-border banking begins to crumble
The veil is being lifted on the shadowy world of cross-border banking as governments clamp down on big-time tax evaders and bring money back to their shores.
The Nigerian scammers become the scammed
Someone may have been fleecing some of Nigeria’s biggest banks, pushing the country’s financial system to the edge of collapse.
Italian bank accepts cheesy collateral
Credito Emiliano SpA in northern Italy is accepting parmesan cheese as collateral to keep the region’s cheesemakers in business while the country weathers the recession. The bank’s vaults now hold 17,000 tons of high-quality parmesan, each 80-pound wheel valued at about 300 euros.
Bank DeathWatch: four more lenders go to the wall
Glenn Dyer reports on the latest casualties from the beleaguered US financial sector.
The Big Four banks are guilty of corporate crimes
The NAB fee backdown is small consolation to bank customers who have been victim to one of the greatest corporate thefts over the past decade.
Bank drops penalty fees. Nice start, long way to go.
Yesterday NAB announced it would no longer charge consumers penalty fees of $30, writes Gordon Renouf, director of Policy and Campaigns for CHOICE. Now, what about credit card fees?
US Bank DeathWatch: Another seven go as Guaranty teeters
The slow death of American banks continues, with another nasty bout of closures on Friday night — six in the state of Georgia alone.
The best bank you’ve never heard of
While banks around the world drown under the GFC tidal wave, Spain’s Banco Santander is surging ahead and look likely to make the largest profit of any Western bank this year. So what are they doing right?
NAB’s grubby $2 billion cash grab
The way shareholders got preferential treatment yesterday from the NAB, which wanted to raise $2 billion quickly, but then “stagged” most of the shares and took a free profit, was disgusting.
Business as usual on Wall St as big bonuses return
Buoyed by a recent boom in profits, Wall Street’s biggest banks are setting aside billions of dollars for executive bonuses, only months after they were rescued by the government bailout. Said government is less than impressed.
The next big problem for US banks
Their problems with home mortgages, foreclosures and bad corporate loans show no sign of improving. Now US banks face fresh trouble, with the $US6.7 trillion commercial property sector.
Former ANZ boss seeks redemption, fails
After maintaining a dignified silence in recent years, former ANZ CEO John McFarlane has launched a valiant rearguard action, but he can’t change the fact the bank lost billions under his command.
The devil in the Goldman profit detail
While Goldman Sachs and its record profits can fool some in the markets, including analysts and fevered fund managers, the hard heads are still sceptical.
