News Archive
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2008
Bank News
Bank Was Warned Of Fraud Risk
31 May 2008
Michael West reveals the inside story of the Opes Prime collapse, and lifts the lid on the secret deal under which ANZ looked after itself at the expense of Opes creditors. DAYS before it froze the assets of 1200 Opes Prime clients and began to sell them, ANZ Bank was warned by a director of the imploding company not to lend Opes any more money, claiming a fraud had been committed... read full story
Anz Seeks A Deal On Opes' Unsecured Creditors
30 May 2008
OPES Prime's administrators are believed to have had an approach from ANZ for a settlement deal that would deliver a 62?-in-the-dollar return to Opes' unsecured creditors and relinquish any legal claims the administration might pursue against the bank... read full story
Two Milestones On A Long And Winding, Crowded Road
30 May 2008
Opes Prime's administrators are believed to have had an approach from ANZ Bank for a settlement deal which would deliver a 62c-in-the-dollar return to Opes unsecured creditors and relinquish any legal claims the administration might pursue against the bank... read full story
The Risk Of Creating An Untouchable
28 May 2008
How's this for a financial nightmare: the governor of the Reserve Bank is discovered to have been engaged in insider trading - using his position to influence the outcome of a takeover of an Australian bank... read full story
Creating Nation's Biggest Bank Will Cost $700m
27 May 2008
THE $700 million price tag attached to the merger of Westpac and St George banks is expected to be met by stripping as much as a quarter of St George's cost base from the combined entity... read full story
Unease Over New Governor Powers
27 May 2008
THE Rudd Government's attempt to enshrine the independence of the Reserve Bank moved closer yesterday, despite criticism that it would do little to improve interest rates policy... read full story
Westpac, Dragon Name Date
27 May 2008
WESTPAC and St George will merge within six months, barring regulatory impediments or a competing bid for Australia's fifth-biggest bank... read full story
Pressure On Nab To Act As Westpac, St George Reveal Marriage Terms
26 May 2008
WESTPAC and St George are set to unveil the detailed terms governing their planned merger after a scramble by accounting and legal specialists to complete investigations into each bank's finances... read full story
Anz To Continue Push For Chinese Licence
24 May 2008
ANZ is to extend its search for a banking licence to support its push into southern China after missing out on the $5 billion purchase of the Hong Kong's Wing Lung bank... read full story
Bank In Doubt As Pulp Mill Backer
23 May 2008
ANZ Bank appears to have decided against funding Gunns' $2 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania, dealing a blow to the controversial project... read full story
Chink Of Light For Opes Clients As Anz Budges
23 May 2008
The ANZ Bank has agreed to negotiations with Opes Prime's administrator, John Lindholm, to deliver a deal for Opes's hapless unsecured creditors... read full story
Bank On Pearson's Data
22 May 2008
NEXT week's visit to Wollongong by ANZ Bank deputy chief economist Tony Pearson won't be his first... read full story
Australian Dollar Nears Us, Flagging 24-year High
21 May 2008
THE Australian dollar has edged closer to $US1, a 24-year high, after Reserve Bank minutes revealed that the bank's board seriously debated raising interest rates again at its meeting two weeks ago... read full story
All-cash Rival Bid For St George Unlikely
20 May 2008
THE prospect of an international bank or an unlisted local rival making an all-cash bid to counter Westpac's $66 billion merger with St George Bank has receded sharply after such a proposition was rejected by St George's chairman yesterday... read full story
Chance Of St George Cash Bid Fades
20 May 2008
THE prospect of an all-cash bid to counter Westpac's $66 billion merger with St George Bank has receded after St George's chairman rejected the notion... read full story
News Keeps Getting Worse For Anz
20 May 2008
This time a New Zealand offshoot is taxing the bank, its latest accounts reveal... read full story
Dragon Head Not Swayed By Theories On Merger
19 May 2008
THE chief executive of St George Bank, Paul Fegan, has denied that his group's supposed financial weaknesses brought on by the global credit crisis has made its $66 billion merger with Westpac both inevitable and necessary... read full story
Investec Banking On Australia
19 May 2008
BOUTIQUE investment bank Investec will continue with expansion plans in Australia, despite challenging conditions... read full story
Laughing All The Way Back To The Bank
17 May 2008
AMP's former chief executive, Andrew Mohl, will celebrate the end of his six-month spell of "gardening leave" by returning to the banking industry in which he started his career... read full story
Borrowers Dig Deep As Banks Pile On The Fees
16 May 2008
HOUSEHOLDS and businesses paid more than $10 billion in bank fees and penalties last year, the Reserve Bank has revealed amid concerns that the proposed merger of Westpac and St George could further tighten banks' grip on consumers... read full story
Cba Hesitates Over Whether To Enter St George Tussle
16 May 2008
COMMONWEALTH Bank will spend the next 10 days weighing up the pros and cons of making a counter-bid for St George in what may become a battle for the title "Australia's biggest bank"... read full story
Mortgages Creep Back Through Reserve's Window
16 May 2008
CITIGROUP yesterday sold the first tranches of securitised mortgages issued since the credit crisis shut down markets last year, as Australian banks move to tie together home loans as assets that could be exchanged for cash with the Reserve Bank... read full story
Slower Growth Gives The Reserve Bank Scope In Its Battle To Keep Lid On Costs
15 May 2008
WAGES are going up surprisingly slowly, giving the Reserve Bank a breather in the war on inflation... read full story
Bank Merge Could Cost 5000 Jobs
14 May 2008
THE Financial Sector Union is not ruling out strike action as part of a major campaign to stop the proposed merger between Westpac and St George Bank... read full story
Copycat Round Of Bids In Doubt
14 May 2008
SHAREHOLDERS have rushed to second-tier banks in the hope they will become takeover targets, but analysts are sceptical that Westpac's bid to merge with St George Bank will spark a round of takeover activity... read full story
Editorial Bank Merger Must Pass All The Right Tests
14 May 2008
WHILE analysts say the proposed Westpac and St George Bank merger does not contravene the "four pillars" policy, the wider community should feel nervous about the impending marriage... read full story
Fewer Banks, Higher Fees
14 May 2008
Don't bank on better customer service if this merger goes ahead... read full story
St George Open To Other Offers
14 May 2008
ST GEORGE has left open the possibility of a higher takeover bid, beating off merger partner Westpac's demands for a substantial "break fee", despite yesterday accepting an $18-plus billion offer that will end its independence as the country's fifth largest bank... read full story
$64bn Bank Would Leap To No.1
13 May 2008
INVESTORS are preparing for further consolidation in the banking sector, as Westpac tries to gain control of the country's fifth-largest bank... read full story
Banking Revolution
13 May 2008
CONSUMERS could soon be banking seven days a week as "super branches" spring up in shopping complexes under the expected merger of Westpac and St George, a deal that would create Australia's biggest bank with a combined value of almost $70 billion... read full story
Bound For Top Of The Roost
13 May 2008
WESTPAC and St George are expected to anoint their merger formally this morning and seize market dominance from the current leader, Commonwealth Bank, in a deal that will value the combined group at almost $70 billion - $20 billion of that attached to the "Happy Dragon"... read full story
How Kelly Slew The Dragon
13 May 2008
TALK about eating your young. From the minute Gail Kelly walked into Westpac Banking Corp's Kent Street headquarters on February 1 her old bank, St George, was almost destined to be swallowed in one gulp... read full story
More Than One Way To Be No.1
13 May 2008
Having missed out on heading the Commonwealth Bank, Gail Kelly has found another way to run the largest bank in the land - spend $20 billion and merge two smaller rivals... read full story
Small Is Beautiful, Say Customers
13 May 2008
IT WAS May 6, 1937, at a public meeting in Hurstville. Ten men from the two sides of the Georges River forged a building society that would later become the St George bank... read full story
Westpac Can Bank On Its Chief Exec For Some Hot Advice On Dragon Slaying
13 May 2008
The crucial edge over competitors in making a merger bid successful is Gail Kelly... read full story
Commonwealth Bank Gets $16bn Liquidity Line From Rba's Window
10 May 2008
COMMONWEALTH Bank is manoeuvring to get a helping hand from the taxpayer by packaging $15.6 billion of its mortgages to swap for cash from the Reserve Bank. This is a move to shore up liquidity and is one all banks are now pondering. Either that, or it is off to the sharemarket to raise capital... read full story
Nab Weathers Credit Storm To Post $2.7bn First-half Profit
10 May 2008
NATIONAL Australia Bank chief executive John Stewart has drawn on his bad-weather sailing experience to steer the bank to a 25.8% increase in first-half net profit... read full story
Dragon Rethinks Guidance Policy
8 May 2008
ST GEORGE Bank is to review its long-standing policy of giving investors profit guidance after a dip in its expectations of reaching $1.3 billion in earnings this year resulted in its shares taking a battering for a second day... read full story
Less News May Be Better News, St George Thinks
8 May 2008
ST GEORGE Bank will review its long-standing policy of giving profit guidance to investors after a dip in its expectation of hitting $1.3 billion this year led to its shares taking a battering over two successive days... read full story
St George Burnt By Credit Dragon
7 May 2008
THE global credit crisis and sharemarket turmoil have forced St George Bank to cut its earnings forecast for the rest of this financial year from 10% to as low as 8%, after first-half core profit growth slowed to 6%... read full story
St George Focuses On The Positive
7 May 2008
THE new chief executive of St George Bank, Paul Fegan, faces a confidence-rebuilding exercise with investors after the bank yesterday hit the market with a cut in its earnings target for the current year to below $1.3 billion, on top of a lower-than-expected interim profit result... read full story
St George Plays Smart Game To Lift Deposits
7 May 2008
Australia's fifth-largest bank was aggressive in building its loan book last year but lately it has been attracting investors to its lucrative term deposits... read full story
Recession Rates A Mention As Figures Paint Mixed Picture For Growth
6 May 2008
THE Reserve Bank faces a delicate challenge at its meeting today, but the central bank is almost certain to leave the official interest rate at 7.25%... read full story
Tricom Finds A Great Dane
6 May 2008
AUSTRALIA'S connections with Denmark run deep - the Danish-designed Sydney Opera House, Princess Mary and now a substantial chunk of much-diminished stockbroking company Tricom. Danish investment bank Saxo Bank will pay $20 million for a 35% stake in Tricom, which this year caused market mayhem by not settling trades on time... read full story
Nab May Go Back To Running A Brokerage
3 May 2008
A DEAL for National Australia Bank to buy the Australian stockbroking and wealth management arm of US banking giant Citi may be imminent... read full story
End Of The High-rise Days, Says Bank Boss
2 May 2008
THE recently installed Westpac chief executive, Gail Kelly, has declared an end to the most recent golden age of banking profit growth, even though the country's oldest bank is on target to increase its earnings almost 10 per cent this year to $3.8 billion... read full story
One Way Or The Other, Some Pain Is On Its Way
1 May 2008
THE Rudd Government cannot plausibly protect Australia from the slowdown that the Reserve Bank is determined to impose... read full story
St George To Cut Its Commissions In Bid For Loyalty
1 May 2008
ST GEORGE BANK will cut its commissions to mortgage brokers who do not promote the bank's products over a loan's lifetime, the lender announced yesterday... read full story
