Joye: What’s the difference between CBA and Fannie Mae?Very little, says Christopher Joye. Just like the once-epic financial institution, our big banks are “too big to fail” — if they go down, so does our economy. Taxpayers will continue to subsidise them, even though they will continue to screw us over.
Banks
Let’s never guarantee the banks again
Yesterday Wayne Swan finally abolished bank guarantees for new borrowings, put in place at the height of the GFC. It’s a policy we never needed to have, writes Peter Swan.
Mayne: Bowen is right on Sons of Gwalia
Despite all the bleating by class-action lawyers and the Australian Shareholders’ Association, the government’s decision to overturn the Sons of Gwalia High Court decision is no great disaster.
How banks are already cashing-in on Haiti
As well-meaning westerners take out their credit cards to help earth-quake ravaged Haiti, banks and credit card companies are making hundreds of millions of dollars in transaction and processing fees.
Wall St bankers explain their stuff ups
The NY Times has a nifty interactive feature on the four big bankers who headed to Capitol Hill to testify at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Hear in their own words how hurricanes, regulators, risk and overspending of mortgages all contributed to causing the GFC.
The banks have Swan cornered
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan knows that he needs to get more competition back into the Australian banking market — the only question is how, writes Karen Maley.
Australia Post: the People’s Bank?
The big banks need to absorb more of their funding cost pressures rather than passing every rise onto the customers. With standard mail becoming a thing of the past, Australia Post should turn to banking, argues Christopher Joyce.
Goldman employees make hay: 500-grand-a-head kind of hay
Goldman would be crazy to not make as much hay as it can while the sun continues to shine. And by “making hay”, we mean “paying its very smart employees billions of dollars to take calculated risks with shareholder and taxpayer money”.
Mayne: Big bank AGMs and the cynical late December club
The big banks used to be the masters of cynical pre-Christmas AGM scheduling, but this year, agri-business competitors AWB and Incitec Pivot have stolen the prize — both planning their AGMs for 2pm on 23 December.
Bankers’ value to society? You’ve gotta be kidding
Investment bankers can aid economy growth, but it’s difficult to determine any real value that the average banker provides to society. Especially in comparison to their rampant pay packets.
Calling bull on the banks
Many of the big US banks — Citigroup and Wells Fargo — are withdrawing from the government stimulus package, so as to limit government control. Little has changed on Wall St, says John Gapper, so can we call the GFC bailout a success?
No sympathy for British wankers … err bankers
British bankers are upset at having their bonuses taxed a year after many were rescued by taxpayer money from the biggest financial mess they had helped create in decades. Who would ever have thought that?
Gittins: Yes, the banks are being greedy
If you’re complaining about the banks being dodgy and raising their interest rates higher than the official rate, you have every right to complain. Except, they were greedy because businesses need to make profits, writes Ross Gittins.
Westpac gives the government the finger
Westpac jacked its rates up above those of the RBA for one reason, says John Durie: because it can. The bank has aggressively grown its market share in recent times and it wants to make sure that money is protected — bugger the consequences.
Westpac can’t be bothered defending the indefensible
There is no excuse for Westpac raising domestic mortgage rates yesterday. The move was nothing but a grubby grab for cash, dressed up with the usual banking bullshit about cost pressures.
American banks: down but not out
The American banking sector remains devastated by the credit crunch and the recession, with a record fall in lending and commercial real estate down. Yet there are emerging signs of an improvement.
Banking competition: the great Australian oxymoron
Australia’s Big Four banks are at the core of our entire economy, says Evan Jones, and the idea that they’re “in competition” with each other is a farce. Together, these institutions wield enormous power.
The next meltdown is coming in 2012
It may not be the global Apocalypse predicted by certain Hollywood action films, but there will be an epic disaster in 2012, says Paul Farrell: the next big Wall St crash.
Bank exec bonuses helped by Rudd’s rules
Kevin Rudd may publicly deride extreme capitalism — but, fortunately for our bankers, the Federal Government’s policies appear to be aiding and abetting it.
Goldman Sachs outsources lending to charity
You can’t but help be very very cynical about the news that Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffett are going to rustle up half a billion bucks and lend it to small businesses.
US finance sector’s sick reality
In the past month, 24 US banks have failed, two big finance companies have gone into bankruptcy, followed by a small credit card provider. But American investors don’t care; they know if the banks are small enough, the regulators will clean up.
Is the US Fed about to get neutered?
US Democrat senators are looking to overhaul the country’s financial system, stripping the Federal Reserve of its supervisory powers and creating three new agencies to protect consumers and police banks. You can read the whole proposed Bill here.
Banks: God’s work or a highway to hell
So if bankers are doing “god’s work as the Goldman Sachs boss says they are, where’s the Devil in all of this? Well, judging by the number of banks going belly up in the US, death is definitely in the air.
High fliers at the core of the Telstra shareholder revolt
Telstra’s “shareholder revolt” has nothing to do with mum and dad investors: the criticism over the Telco’s structural separation is all coming from a clique of some of Australia’s wealthiest people and the big banks.
Which bank? Definitely not a big one.
US investors lost confidence in large banks getting bailed out by the government. Community banks are cashing in and cleaning up, advertising directly to local customers angry about large CEO payouts and irresponsible investing.
