As we move on into the spring, it is an opportune time to take stock and see where the Australian economy, and its housing market, are heading, writes Christopher Joye of Property Observer.
Macquarie Bank
Fund managers, investors on the Lemming Express
Why the shares in probably the safest of the sectors in the market had to be sold yesterday in their millions, and were then bought back in the afternoon, will be the biggest mystery of yesterday’s outing by the lemmings of Australian finance.
Macquarie arm in secret multimillion deal with SBS
A Macquarie Bank subsidiary entered into a secret side contract with the SBS, under which an “incentive payment” of $3.85 million was paid without being declared to the market or the ABC.
Still the Millionaire Factory, just sharing the moolah around
When does a Millionaire Factory stop being a Millionaire Factory? Not when it makes an annual profit of $956 million, pays its top 12 executives $59 million and has 15,325 staff earning an average $254,486 in the austere post-GFC environment of the past 12 months.
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.
How Macquarie got its result back on the MAp
Macquarie Group raided its profitable Macquarie Airports piggy bank to dress up its 2010 interim result and hold the reported fall in after-tax profit to a more comfortable level.
The sharks are circling Macquarie, a factory on the slide
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with Macquarie, except that it is now just another investment bank that has run out of bright ideas, swimming at the back of a pack of larger, hungrier sharks.
Macquarie loses its competitive edge as earnings slump 25%
Macquarie’s worsening performance and lacklustre return on equity is the inevitable result of a business that has lost its primary competitive advantage.
What’s eating at Macquarie Bank?
The big question mark over the new Macquarie model is whether its failure to gain traction and generate respectable performance is due only to the peculiar market circumstances or whether the model itself is incapable of generating the kinds of returns Macquarie investors and staff have become accustomed to.
Forget CEO pay, investment banks laughing all the way to the bank
During the Global Financial Crisis, when Australian companies clamored to raise precious capital to shore-up their balance sheets, investment bankers and their favoured institutional clients made out like bandits.
Fairfax overcooks Macquarie ‘cheap shots’
The Sydney Morning Herald has overstepped the mark with today’s attack on Macquarie Bank, which is just another shot in the war between Michael West and Macquarie.
Short memories, fat wallets for Macquarie high flyers
It appears that Macquarie Bank directors have short memories — barely a year since the credit crunch caused turmoil in financial markets, money again is being spread around the executive suite at Martin Place with gay abandon.
Business As Usual: China property prices soar … gold prices to be driven down …
China property prices hit record highs … Greece is in worse shape than most thought … Plane sailing for Macquarie … A bonus for the hard-working South Korea … An embarrassing time for Morgan Stanley … Fluctuating fortunes of the gold market …
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.
US Treasury boss goes into bat (and print) for himself
Former US Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson on Tuesday undertook a strident defence of his management of the US economy during the height of the financial crisis.
Macquarie’s missing millions leave shareholders guessing
What has happened to the A$500 million that Macquarie gouged from its former stable of listed infrastructure funds since September? asks Karen Maley.
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.
China 2: bubble a benchmark in capital spending
While the China bubble could continue for months or years to come — a planned economy not known for human rights and continuing to defy gravity would also need to defy history, writes Adam Schwab.
Rebel with a pause as private equity puts hit-and-run on hold
News that private equity has pulled another attempt to take the money and run from a poorly performing retailer again causes us to ask, just where is the added value from private equity?
Macquarie’s "fair and reasonable" millions anything but
KPMG’s approval of Macquarie Airports’ $345 million bounty is kind of like saying a thief who steals your wallet was being fair and reasonable because they didn’t shoot you afterwards.
Stockland Group far from “bulletproof”
Listed property group Stockland’s claims about the health of its balance sheet deserve serious scrutiny, particularly in light of yesterday’s results.
Onerous at the top: executive pay still on the up and up
Falls in executive remuneration have not shown an especially close correlation to shareholder returns, but at least the runaway freight train of CEO pay has ground to a halt.
MIG makes mugs of us all
There are plenty of examples of the cupidity involved in the Macquarie Group/Bank model of investor fee clipping and rorting, writes Glenn Dyer.
MacBank promises much, but fails to deliver, again
Yesterday Macquarie were embarrassed when their ham-fisted attempt to gazump the China Minmetals’ cash offer for assets in OZ Minerals, fell over, again in an embarrassing fashion.
