News Archive
2010
- January [1]
2009
- December [1]
- November [3]
- October [2]
- September [5]
- August [3]
- July [4]
- June [5]
- May [2]
- April [2]
- March [6]
- February [11]
- January [12]
2008
Bank News
Bank Takes Car Loans For Funding Drive
31 March 2008
AMID concerns that a slowing economy could harm its ability to meet earnings guidance, St George Bank has dusted off a tool not used in almost a decade to broaden its funding base and tackle the effects of the global liquidity crisis... read full story
Is Your Bank Deposit Safe? No . . . But It Could Be
30 March 2008
YOU just know when you see politicians berating a public servant for doing his job it's worth a second look... read full story
Kelly's St George Right-hand Joins Her At Westpac
27 March 2008
WESTPAC chief executive Gail Kelly has swooped on her former right-hand man at St George Bank to fill one of the most senior jobs at her new employer... read full story
Nab Move Ups Heat On Westpac Rate
27 March 2008
WESTPAC is under pressure to increase its main home-loan interest rate after National Australia Bank increased its standard variable rate... read full story
Politicians Will Try To Transfer Blame. You Can Bank On It
27 March 2008
Wayne Swan's rage at the banks won't keep interest rates down, or solve the housing affordability crisis... read full story
Westpac Boss Gives Old Hand Senior Job
27 March 2008
THE chief executive of Westpac, Gail Kelly, has swooped on her former right-hand man at St George Bank to fill one of the most senior jobs at her new employer... read full story
Bank Puts Freeze On Mfs Fund
26 March 2008
TROUBLES continue to mount at the Gold Coast property group MFS with its unlisted investment vehicle, MFS Premium Income Fund, now effectively in the hands of its banker, the Royal Bank of Scotland... read full story
How Safe Is It?
26 March 2008
Contrary to general belief, the Reserve Bank does not guarantee bank deposits, writes Lesley Parker... read full story
More Trouble In Paradise As Mfs Fund Defaults On $184m Bank Loan
26 March 2008
TROUBLES continue to mount at Gold Coast property group MFS with its unlisted investment vehicle MFS Premium Income Fund now effectively in the hands of its banker, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS)... read full story
Red Faces As Nab Raises Home Rates
26 March 2008
NATIONAL Australia Bank has been forced into yet another embarrassing round of top-up interest rate rises - the second in less than three months - as the global credit crunch continues to squeeze the ability of institutions to fund new mortgages... read full story
Stocks Soar After Us Pick-up
26 March 2008
AUSTRALIA'S biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, had its best day in almost 16 years as investors added about $50 billion to the value of the sharemarket as a whole... read full story
Bendigo Bank Bendigo Easter Festival
22 March 2008
WHAT Bendigo Bank Bendigo Easter Festival WHEN Today to Monday COST Free.. read full story
S
21 March 2008
THE global credit crunch has touched Bendigo Bank, with ratings agency Standard & Poor's changing its outlook for the self-styled community bank... read full story
Anz Sells Buildings To Put Money In Bank
20 March 2008
ANZ has sold 32 branches, including five in Victoria, as part of its plan to lease back its property to free up money for expansion. The 47 properties up for sale this week were the last fully owned branches in the bank's 800-plus retail network... read full story
Bank Chief Warns More Pain To Come As Fear Takes Over
19 March 2008
FEAR - stoked by the sharemarket players who stand to gain from it - is fuelling the crisis in global financial markets, Commonwealth Bank head Ralph Norris has warned... read full story
Profile Bernie Fraser
19 March 2008
The former governor of the Reserve Bank says it's about more than numbers... read full story
Japan Still To Find New Bank Chief
17 March 2008
ELEVENTH-HOUR efforts have failed to resolve a succession crisis at the Bank of Japan, increasing the possibility the central bank will be left leaderless during a world financial crisis... read full story
Market Braces For Us Fallout
17 March 2008
THE near-collapse of the US investment bank Bear Stearns is set to reverberate through the sharemarket today, with strategists expecting banks and financial engineers to bear the brunt of a sell-off that could wipe more than 100 points from the bourse... read full story
Head-kicker Bank Gets Some Of Its Own Medicine
16 March 2008
IT USED to be: "Who's afraid of Macquarie Bank?" That's changed a little now. It's more like: "Who's afraid of Macquarie Bank getting into trouble?".. read full story
Time To Vary The Reserve Bank Board
16 March 2008
IN SIX weeks federal Treasurer Wayne Swan will appoint a new director to the Reserve Bank board from a shortlist prepared by the bank's governor (and board chairman) Glenn Stevens and Treasury secretary Ken Henry... read full story
Succession Dispute Leaves Bank Of Japan Vulnerable In Crisis
15 March 2008
ELEVENTH-HOUR efforts to resolve a succession crisis at the Bank of Japan have failed to come up with a breakthrough, increasing the possibility that the central bank will be left without a leader during one of the world's greatest financial crises... read full story
Higher Bank Rates, Raisings On The Cards
13 March 2008
THE double prospects of further mortgage rate increases outside officially-sanctioned Reserve Bank rises and possible capital raisings by the leading banks remains high even after across-the-board home loan increases this week of as much as 0.35 percentage points... read full story
Another Turn Of Rates Screw
11 March 2008
ANZ is expected to follow its three rivals in raising rates by more than the Reserve Bank's 25 basis points... read full story
Biggest Rise From Biggest Bank
11 March 2008
HOMEBUYERS with mortgages with the country's biggest bank yesterday faced the largest interest rate increase of the current cycle when the Commonwealth Bank raised its standard variable rate by 0.35 percentage points to 9.32 per cent... read full story
Cba Forced To Dump Buyback
11 March 2008
THE Commonwealth Bank yesterday suspended its $400 million share buyback to preserve capital and avoid the need to ration lending to customers in the face of the worsening global credit crunch... read full story
Cba Sets Pace On Home Rates Rise
11 March 2008
THE nation's biggest home lender, the Commonwealth Bank, has a new claim to fame - the highest interest rates... read full story
Home-buyers Slugged By Bank
11 March 2008
AUSTRALIA'S largest home lender, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, yesterday hiked its mortgage rates by 35 basis points - the biggest lift by a bank since last week's official cash rate rise... read full story
Intimations Of A Credit Squeeze Prompt U-turn
11 March 2008
A MONTH ago the Commonwealth Bank board decided against changing its dividend reinvestment plan and continued offsetting shares issued under the plan with on-market purchases... read full story
How To Hitch A Ride On The Grey Winds Of Financial Change
9 March 2008
The credit crunch is biting bank stocks, property outlooks remain uncertain and a stronger dollar is failing to deliver, but there are some positives, writes DAVID POTTS... read full story
Owners, Renters Feel The Pinch
8 March 2008
THE increase in monthly mortgage repayments is exceeding the Reserve Bank's latest interest rate rise while Sydney's rental shortage deteriorates... read full story
Mortgage For The Nation
7 March 2008
WE all have a general idea of why the Reserve Bank raises interest rates, and it makes no bones about its purpose. That is to curb spending, and higher interest rates do that by giving us less money to spend... read full story
Nab Slaps Premium On Loans Ahead Of The Pack
7 March 2008
HOME owners have been hit by a bigger than expected rise in their mortgage repayments, with the National Australia Bank lifting its variable home loan rate by more than the Reserve Bank's official increase this week of 0.25 of a percentage point... read full story
The Jig Is Up For Cross-collateralised Allco Principals As Nab Makes Its Move
7 March 2008
The big guns did not want to stump up their own money, giving the bank little choice... read full story
Adelaide Bank's 15-point Insult To Rba Injury
6 March 2008
ADELAIDE Bank has become the first bank to lift its rates above this week's 25 basis-point increase by the Reserve Bank... read full story
Did The Reserve Bank Get It Wrong?
6 March 2008
THE December quarter national accounts confirm that the Reserve Bank is raising interest rates in a slowing economy. Trend growth in spending and output peaked last March. It was hot. It's now cooling... read full story
Banks May Defy Swan On Rates
5 March 2008
WITH their margins now squeezed tighter, the Reserve Bank on the inflation warpath and the prospect of a big increase in bad loans, banks are likely to heap more pain on their customers by lifting their interest rates by more than the central bank's latest 25-basis-point rise... read full story
Banks Ready To Raise Rates Even Higher
5 March 2008
HOMEOWNERS feeling the heat of 12 official interest rate rises in a row face an extra sting, with banks tipped to add as much as 0.20 percentage points to the Reserve Bank's increase yesterday... read full story
Banks To Inflict More Pain
5 March 2008
AUSTRALIAN home buyers are facing a double hit on mortgage rates, with banks tipped to lift their interest rate margins, perhaps significantly, when they pass on the 0.25 percentage point rate rise delivered by the Reserve Bank yesterday... read full story
Ill Winds Blow From All Corners Of The Globe And It's Not Easy To See The Good
4 March 2008
Banks as pundits and performers devalue currency of the phrase "safe as a bank"... read full story
Banking Heavies Make Dash For Sliding Scrip
2 March 2008
MUST be something happening to the banks judging by the sudden share buying by a clutch of bank heavies. It might have something to do with scrip across the sector falling by anything up to 36% from peak levels... read full story
Banks Pass Rate-hike Pain On To Borrowers
2 March 2008
INTEREST rates are set to rise by up to 0.4 percentage points within weeks of the Reserve Bank board meeting on Tuesday... read full story
