News Archive
2010
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2009
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2008
Bank News
Analysts Mixed On Foster's Ceo; Musing About Deutsche Bank's 5.3% Stake
30 September 2008
THE appointment of new Foster's Group chief executive Ian Johnston has received a mixed response from equities analysts as speculation builds on the rationale for a 5.3% stake in the company that Deutsche Bank has taken... read full story
Wamu Failure Takes Banks Crisis To A Historic Low
28 September 2008
IN THE biggest bank failure in United States history, Washington Mutual Inc has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market... read full story
Investment World Hangs On The Brink
27 September 2008
THE investment world is holding its breath, waiting for news of the US Government's $US700billion ($A840 billion) bail-out plan. But while it was waiting, there was another casualty - Washington Mutual became the biggest US bank to fail... read full story
Macquarie Bank To Advise Service Stream
26 September 2008
TELCO and utilities contractor Service Stream has recruited Macquarie Bank to advise it on how to respond to takeover interest... read full story
Town To Get Its First Bank
26 September 2008
COORANBONG is set to get its first bank, a Bendigo Bank... read full story
Macquarie Chief Distances Bank From Us Woes
23 September 2008
ONE of Macquarie Group's senior executives says the investment bank has one of the most conservative balance sheets among global banks... read full story
Costello On World Bank Corruption Committee
22 September 2008
THE former treasurer Peter Costello has taken his first step towards a post-political career by being appointed to the World Bank's new anti-corruption body... read full story
Macquarie Shares Slammed As World Financial Markets Grind To A Halt
19 September 2008
A CRISIS of confidence has swamped Macquarie Group, intensifying speculation the stand-alone investment bank may be forced into an alliance with a commercial bank... read full story
Changing your bank too often
18 September 2008
Bank changes have become far less difficult thanks to the advent of online banking, but changing your bank too often could lead to restrictions later on... read full story
No Bank Is Safe In This Alarming Atmosphere
18 September 2008
Statements designed to reassure the public can have the opposite effect, writes David Hirst... read full story
Australia Hit As Crisis Grows
17 September 2008
US REGULATORS and banks are attempting to provide a $US70 billion ($A86 billion) financial lifeline for teetering insurance giant American International Group to avert the spread of the Wall Street meltdown following the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers and shock sale of Merrill Lynch... read full story
Bank Breaks Ranks On Emissions
15 September 2008
AUSTRALIA'S second biggest bank, Westpac, has spoken out against the business community to urge the Federal Government to pursue a strict emissions trading scheme with tougher reporting standards for business... read full story
Bank Slams Bail-out Claim Over $500m Deal
13 September 2008
RATINGS agency Standard & Poor's kept a ratings warning on Members Equity Bank for months after a $500 million deal with Victoria's public sector fund manager... read full story
World Markets Hang On Attempt To Keep Lehman Alive
11 September 2008
THE short-term outlook for world markets is tied to the fate of a US investment bank, one that has lost investor' confidence and more than three-quarters of its market capitalisation in the past year... read full story
Axe Set To Fall On Anz Jobs
10 September 2008
ANZ chief executive Mike Smith has pledged to cut "layers of management" under the bank's third overhaul in as many years... read full story
Bank Robber Seizes Epsom Initiative With Tramway Win
10 September 2008
BANK Robber gave Gai Waterhouse her first Group Three Tramway Handicap (1400m) win at Randwick yesterday and might just take her total of Group One Epsom Handicap (1600m) victories to five next month... read full story
Fegan May Go In Westpac Merger
10 September 2008
ST GEORGE Bank chief executive Paul Fegan is set to step down on the completion of the merger with Westpac and is likely to leave the merged bank within a few months of the $18billion deal being sealed in November... read full story
Managers To Go In Shake-up At Anz
10 September 2008
THE chief executive of ANZ Bank, Mike Smith, has pledged to cut "layers of management" as part of the third overhaul for the bank in as many years... read full story
St George Chief Expected To Quit
10 September 2008
ST GEORGE Bank chief executive Paul Fegan is set to step down from his job oncompletion of the merger with Westpac. He is likely to leave the combined bank within a few months of the $18 billion deal being sealed in November... read full story
Cba Boss Scores $2m Raise
9 September 2008
RALPH NORRIS, the chief executive of the country's largest bank, the Commonwealth, saw his basic salary more than double last year as his overall cash, shares and bonus package jumped by $2 million to $8.6 million... read full story
Don't Bet On Banks To Cut Rates: Stevens
9 September 2008
BORROWERS should not hold their breath waiting for banks to reduce the half a percentage point in unofficial interest rate rises they have inflicted since the beginning of this year, the Reserve Bank governor, Glenn Stevens, has warned... read full story
Rba Chief Tips 100,000 Jobs To Go, But Says A Recession Is Unlikely
9 September 2008
THE Reserve Bank governor has conceded that a recession is possible, while warning that Australia's unemployment rate is set to increase to well above 5%, adding an extra 100,000 people to the unemployment queue... read full story
Rba Offers Little Consolation On Long-term Funding Rates
9 September 2008
BANK executives have warned that long-term funding costs are likely to remain high well into next year, dampening chances that borrowers will be given relief on interest rates outside any cuts by the central bank... read full story
Spectre Of Recession Invoked As Rba Chief Tips 100,000 Jobs To Go
9 September 2008
AUSTRALIA'S Reserve Bank governor has warned of a recession while declaring that Australia's unemployment rate is set to increase to well above 5%, adding an extra 100,000 people to the unemployment queue... read full story
Kelly Promises A Street Fight
8 September 2008
WESTPAC chief executive Gail Kelly has offered a sneak preview of how she intends to run the separate branch networks of her bank and that of merger partner St George, going as far as to suggest that they will compete for different types of customers... read full story
Shades Of Gray For Nab's Retail Bank
8 September 2008
NATIONAL Australia Bank has dipped into its senior ranks to find a successor to the outgoing head of its domestic retail banking division, Andrew Thorburn... read full story
St George Bid To Get Final Ok
8 September 2008
ST GEORGE Bank's board is expected to give final endorsement to Westpac Bank's $18billion-plus takeover offer this week, ending long-running speculation the smaller lender could extract a sweetener under the all-scrip deal... read full story
Anz Has Plugged Into The Appetite For Hybrid Issues Under Strong Brands
5 September 2008
The bank tried the water at $500 million and then ventured forth on a $1 billion issue... read full story
Surprise As Bank Reappoints Outsider To Media Role
4 September 2008
THE Commonwealth Bank confounded its critics yesterday by reappointing Ikon Communications to handle the bulk of its $60 million media buying and planning contract while breaking with tradition to appoint the creative agency BMF to handle media and communications strategy for the bank's large youth segment... read full story
Don't Bank On Another Cut, Warns Rba
3 September 2008
THE Reserve Bank has signalled that its latest interest rate cut - the first in seven years - could be a one-off as a plummeting Australian dollar injects new uncertainty into the economy... read full story
Nab's Uk Assets On Clyne's Agenda
3 September 2008
NATIONAL Australia Bank's incoming chief executive, Cameron Clyne, is expected to consider whether to offload its $7.5 billion British operations as part of a wider business review to improve shareholder returns. With the British lending market slowing and mortgage losses rising, analysts said NAB's operation, which is centred on Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank, was again becoming a headwind... read full story
Rate Moves The Right Way
3 September 2008
MANAGING interest rates in a climate of mixed economic signals and uncertainty in world financial markets can't be easy. The Reserve Bank of Australia has eased some pressure on consumers and households by cutting rates for the first time in nearly seven years. The bank has evidently judged that the risk of harm to the economy from depressed demand outweighs the threat from inflation... read full story
St George Opens The Gap
3 September 2008
ST GEORGE BANK is planning a bigger-than-expected cut in home loan rates but will hold off passing this on to its 320,000 affected customers for more than three weeks because of a prediction that funding costs will fall... read full story
The Reserve Bank Eases Pressure
3 September 2008
THE Reserve Bank's decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points has surprised no one: the cut was widely expected after hints from the bank's board and was regarded as a foregone conclusion on both sides of politics. As households struggle under big debt burdens, many borrowers will be asking whether the cut means the Reserve has admitted it went too far with its previous rises... read full story
Editorial Banks Must Toe The Line On Rates Cut
2 September 2008
TODAY is D-Day for the Reserve Bank and the country's big five banks to do the right thing by home buyers and drop interest rates... read full story
Home Buyers Wait On Bank Mortgage Relief
2 September 2008
THE Reserve Bank is expected to deliver mortgage relief to more than 2 million households today by cutting official interest rates... read full story
