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2008
Bank News
Swan's Promise A Lame Duck
25 August 2008
IT'S simple. The easier it is for you to leave your bank, the harder it will work to keep you. Conversely, the harder it is to go, the less banks will do to induce you to stay. Australian banking is big on the converse... read full story
Anz Betters Nab's Pledge To Cut Interest Rates For Mortgages
23 August 2008
THE ANZ has followed its rival the National Australia Bank and promised customers interest rate relief if the Reserve Bank cuts the official cash rate next month... read full story
Past Merger Casts Doubt On Bank Promises
23 August 2008
AS THE Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, weighs up whether to approve Westpac's takeover bid for rival St George, questions are being asked about the durability of guarantees made about jobs and bank branches... read full story
Tricom On Edge As Danish Bank Looks For Exit Door
23 August 2008
SAXO, the Danish bank that rode to the rescue of foundering stockbroker Tricom, is poised to walk away from the deal, in a further dramatic turn of events for Babcock & Brown and ANZ... read full story
Rate Cuts: No Relief Unless You Ask
22 August 2008
MORTGAGE holders struggling with the rising cost of living will have to apply individually to their bank to have their repayments reduced, even if the lender passes on an interest rate cut... read full story
The Call That Swan Was Banking On
22 August 2008
AFTER weeks of jawboning the banks, Treasurer Wayne Swan would have been relieved to take a call from National Australia Bank chief Ahmed Fahour late on Wednesday telling him he was about to fall into line on interest rates... read full story
Bank Spares Cdo Clients Investor Move From Subprime Deals
21 August 2008
INVESTMENT bank Lehman Brothers has switched some hard-hit clients out of US subprime-related investments while defending the sale of structured credit products to councils and other community-based organisations... read full story
Will One Powerful Force Be Enough To Force The Banks' Hand?
20 August 2008
The answer we already know is that the Reserve Bank plans to cut interest rates. The unanswered question is if the banks will follow suit... read full story
Rivals Snuffed Out, Big Banks Are Laughing
17 August 2008
IS IT a coincidence that "Aussie John" Symond has announced he's giving up the day job at Aussie Home Loans just as the Reserve Bank reveals the big banks have recaptured the home loan market?.. read full story
Rates Cut On The Way: Reserve
15 August 2008
THE second-most senior official at the Reserve Bank has broken with tradition and revealed that an interest rate cut is imminent... read full story
Taking The Cream Off The Top
15 August 2008
The Reserve Bank will lower interest rates, but the major retail banks may not do the same, choosing instead to milk their customers to boost profits. Peter Martin explains why banks can afford to follow suit... read full story
Cautious Commonwealth Declares $4.7b Record
14 August 2008
THE Commonwealth Bank yesterday held back from declaring an even higher profit than its latest $4.7 billion record result, after taking an ultra-cautious approach to the danger of the faltering domestic economy throwing up more bad debts than expected... read full story
Cba Saves $212m For Rainy Day Healthiest Bank Clears $4.7bn
14 August 2008
COMMONWEALTH Bank has held back from declaring an even higher profit than its latest $4.7billion record result after taking an ultra-cautious approach to the danger of the faltering domestic economy producing more bad debts... read full story
Club On Brink Of Closure After Bank Rejects Deal
14 August 2008
ONE of Sydney's oldest ex-servicemen's clubs is on the brink of closure after an 11th-hour rescue package was rejected by its main creditor, the ANZ Bank... read full story
Credit Crisis Scuppers Abn Sale
14 August 2008
THE Royal Bank of Scotland has abandoned plans to offload the Australian division of ABN Amro, and will merge the business with its Sydney operations after yesterday's surprise decision by the Commonwealth Bank to pull out of buying the business... read full story
Rebuff Leaves Bos Reluctantly Holding Abn
14 August 2008
THE Royal Bank of Scotland has abandoned plans to offload the Australian division of ABN Amro, and will merge the business with its Sydney operations after yesterday's surprise decision by the Commonwealth Bank to pull out of buying the business... read full story
Watchdog Says Westpac Takeover Of St George Will Not Hurt Competition
14 August 2008
WESTPAC is set to become Australia's biggest bank after the competition watchdog gave the all-clear for the $18 billion takeover of rival St George Bank... read full story
$1.3bn Fires Up Dragon St
13 August 2008
A LATE surge in profitable income over the final weeks of its current financial year is set to take St George Bank to record-breaking annual earnings of $1.3 billion, although the figure is likely to be at the lower end of its own reduced forecasts... read full story
Departing Israeli Pm Offers Palestinians 'shelf' Deal
13 August 2008
ISRAEL'S lame-duck Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reportedly offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a deal that might give Palestinians control over 93% of the occupied West Bank but would be conditional on the end of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip... read full story
Dragon On Track For Record
13 August 2008
A LATE surge in profitable income over the final weeks of the financial year is set to lift St George Bank to record earnings of $1.3 billion, although the result is likely to be at the lower end of its reduced forecasts... read full story
Little Red Bank Shows No Fear Of The Big Bad Credit Wolf
13 August 2008
St George, what a story! It's Alice In Wonderland. All the nasty problems that beset its rivals have vanished down a rabbit hole and there's Alice - she's eaten the magic cake and now stands nine feet tall and bullet-proof... read full story
Olmert Offers Palestinians 'shelf' Deal
13 August 2008
ISRAEL'S departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reportedly offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a deal that may give Palestinians control over 93% of the occupied West Bank but would be conditional on the end of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip... read full story
Olmert Plan To Hand Over Most Of West Bank
13 August 2008
ISRAEL'S lame-duck Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has reportedly offered the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, a deal that would give Palestinians control of 93 per cent of the West Bank... read full story
Putting The Brakes On Too Hard And Too Fast
13 August 2008
The Reserve Bank has indicated it may lower rates as the economy slows down, but will the major banks take any notice?.. read full story
Gloomy Outlook Clouds The Crystal Ball
12 August 2008
IT ANNOUNCED an industry-boosting annual profit yesterday but the recently merged Bendigo and Adelaide Bank refused to predict what the new financial year would bring because uncertain economic conditions continued to shroud the sector... read full story
Now The Reserve Says It's Worried
12 August 2008
AUSTRALIA's Reserve Bank has expressed deep concern about Australia's economic outlook, presenting forecasts that suggest it might have lifted interest rates too high... read full story
Why That Rates Cut May Pass You By
12 August 2008
Would you like the good news or the bad news first? OK, the good news is that it's highly likely the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates next month. The bad news is that it may not make a lick of difference to the rate you are currently paying... read full story
St George On Target For Record Profit
11 August 2008
ST GEORGE Bank will see out what is increasingly looking like its last few months as an independent institution on the back of a record full-year profit... read full story
St George To Buck Bank Blues
11 August 2008
ST GEORGE Bank will see out what is looking increasingly like its last few months as an independent institution on the back of predictions of a record final full-year profit... read full story
Reserve May Cut Rates, But Banks Might Not Follow
9 August 2008
TWO of Australia's largest banks, Westpac and ANZ, have warned that they may not fully pass on any cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank... read full story
Top Billing Comes With Being Adept
9 August 2008
Westpac has cemented its place as the best of the Big Four banks. In the previous downturn National Australia Bank leapt from No. 4 to No. 1 in size, having steered clear of the commercial property disasters that decimated its rivals' balance sheets in the early 1990s... read full story
Westpac's Caution On Subprime Pays Off
9 August 2008
WESTPAC has declared itself free of US subprime exposures, set for a profit rise and more than ready to swallow second-tier rival St George Bank this year... read full story
Bank Celebrates In Style
8 August 2008
THE Bank of Queensland is planning a first birthday celebration in Wollongong next month at the Beach House Seafood Restaurant... read full story
China Bags Gold In Bank Stakes
5 August 2008
CHINA already has won most of the medals in the financial Olympics by avoiding the toxic-debt investments that have devastated banks in the US and Europe... read full story
Israel Sends Gaza Gunmen To West Bank For Their Safety
5 August 2008
ISRAELI Defence Minister Ehud Barak decided last night to transfer to the occupied West Bank 150 Fatah militiamen who fled the Gaza Strip... read full story
Cba Denies The Big Four Are Banking A 30% Better Margin From Rate Hikes
4 August 2008
A WIDENING gap between short-term wholesale lending costs and standard home loan rates since the start of the year does not indicate the Big Four banks are exaggerating the impact of the global credit squeeze, Commonwealth Bank insists... read full story
Dragon Pushing On With Growth
4 August 2008
ST GEORGE BANK is to push ahead with its plans to expand into Victoria and Queensland as it prepares to test the boundaries that will surround its operations if the proposed $15.5 billion merger with Westpac goes ahead... read full story
It Could Get Worse, Warns Nab Boss
4 August 2008
NATIONAL Australia Bank's chairman, Michael Chaney, yesterday warned the global credit crisis may again take a turn for the worst, but rejected any need for a downgrade in the bank's credit rating... read full story
St George Fires Up Expansion Plans
4 August 2008
ST GEORGE Bank is to push ahead with its expansion plans in Victoria and Queensland as it prepares to test the self-autonomous boundaries that will surround its operations if its $15.5 billion merger with Westpac goes ahead as proposed... read full story
Bank Robber A Steal For Waterhouse Team
2 August 2008
GAI WATERHOUSE and trusted yearling selector George Smith looked across at syndicator Denise Martin with the eyes of bargain hunters. A yearling had rated highly and was going cheap at the William Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne two years ago... read full story
Keating
2 August 2008
PAUL Keating has accused the Reserve Bank governor of the time, Bernie Fraser, of doing him in by an excessive interest rate policy in 1994... read full story
Moody's Negative On Nab
2 August 2008
THE challenge facing incoming National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne has become even greater after a credit ratings agency revised its outlook for the bank... read full story
A Man Of Honour Puts The Bank First
1 August 2008
JOHN STEWART is an honourable man. The outgoing National Australia Bank chief executive proved as much yesterday when he put the bank's reputation above his own by agreeing to his departure being made public so soon after its damaging disclosure about its latest bad debt provisions and the $600 million knock-on effect on its profits... read full story
In The Eye Of The Storm
1 August 2008
With world markets in treacherous waters, the National Australia Bank has chosen Cameron Clyne to steady the ship. Leonie Wood reports... read full story
Nab Chief Could Get $7.5m Each Year
1 August 2008
AHMED FAHOUR, the head of National Australia Bank's domestic operations, became the highest-profile casualty of the race to succeed his boss, John Stewart, as the group appointed its "young turk", Cameron Clyne, to take over the leadership of the country's second biggest bank... read full story
