Choice takes on the Westpac bananas ad:
Westpac
Video of the Day: Banking goes bananas
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: A less accountable NSW government?
What were the five finalists of the staff pitching competition at the SBS annual Christmas party that made “several jaws hang limp over their seared tuna canapés”? And is the new NSW Premier less open and accountable than Rees?
28 lenders change rates in response to RBA
Yesterday, 28 mortgage lenders changed their standard variable rates in response to last week’s RBA increase in the official cash rate, writes John Kavanagh and Jason Bryce.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Westpac: a lovely bunch of bananas
How exactly is Westpac like a banana smoothie? Crikey readers let us know. Plus: Baby Jesus as a dog makes Baby Jesus cry and more Melbourne Uni messages.
Penberthy: Westpac slipped on a banana peel and took us for a ride
All the great hopes of a female CEO that wasn’t the fat banker have been dashed by a banana. We need to remember that just because Gail Kelly is female, doesn’t mean she isn’t a Scrooge to customers, writes David Penberthy.
Consumers less confident than bullish business
Australian consumers are less confident than business, the latest Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey of consumer sentiment shows. But is the lack of confidence due to interest rate rises?
Stevens tells the public to share the pain
Reserve Bank Governor, Governor Glenn Stevens has warned that shareholders and customers will have to share the pain of making banks safer by holding more liquidity in the form of low yielding government bonds and similar assets.
Westpac’s banana republic fails to bear fruit
Westpac’s attempt to quell customer concern over last week’s double rate rise have failed to bear fruit with a bitter online backlash greeting the release of a video likening home loans to banana smoothies.
Crikey Clarifier: The difference between home loans and banana smoothies
So according to Westpac, mortgages and banana smoothies are very similar. But the money that banks needed to buy started to cost them a lot more, just like bananas for smoothies. You still following?
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: Gail Kelly doesn’t like women in the exec ranks?
Is Gail Kelly actually not a fan of promoting women in the exec ranks at Westpac? Is it a repeat of her time at St George? Plus, they are a cruel bunch down at the WA Libs.
Westpac’s and Commonwealth’s attitudes ‘disgraceful’
Our biggest banks’ bleating about interest rates often ignores the real story. How quick Westpac and the Commonwealth are to forget the government’s federal guarantees.
Political snippets: A return to Kevin07?
Stand by for pointless aggro, because the sooner we get the next election over, the better. Plus, Westpac boss Gail Kelly surely can’t believe her own press?
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Why Crikey is “Tebbutt” of the joke
Crikey readers get angry over our coverage of recent NSW politics, and also blast the Greens, Westpac… and each other.
Political snippets: Things don’t get worse for Abbott
Abbott can breathe a sigh of relief that nothing got worse for him and his party over the weekend, Malcolm Turnbull fires up on his blog, Barnaby Joyce looks after number one, and more.
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.
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.
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.
Westpac’s Gail Kelly gives the inside story on banking
Westpac CEO Gail Kelly sits down with Alan Kohler, Robert Gottliebsen and Stephen Bartholomeusz for an in-depth discussion on post-GFC banking, repricing business customers’ loans, and financial regulation.
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.
Housing: a giant experiment in moral hazard
However successful the Government has been at managing the short-term effects of the economic crisis, it has failed to use the last twelve months to drive significant reforms in the banking sector that will deliver long-term outcomes.
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.
Tips and rumours: Did Della Bosca fall into a honey trap?
What Crikey’s tipsters are telling us today: Was John Della Bosca set up? … Westpac not cutting back on off-shoring … University of Melbourne’s unqualified tutors.
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.
Morning Market Report: FOMC Statement sends Dow tumbling
The Dow was doing well until the FOMC Statement, but it was a good day for the domestic market, up 26.
