Major international banks are scaling back their lending to Australian corporations in the wake of the global credit crisis as they retreat to their domestic markets and the Australian Federal Government loan guarantee continues to divide the banking sector.
>> Read more
A report commissioned by the Australian Government shows that the wealthiest 20 per cent of Australian families own as much as 60 times more wealth than the poorest 20 per cent. The report titled “2008 Families In Australia” says that Australians with more than A$ 750,000 control 61 per cent of Australia’s wealth, whilst those with less than A$ 70,000 control just 1 per cent of the country’s wealth.
>> Read more
Australia’s 100 largest listed companies may see an A$ 50 billion hit on their balance sheet as the carrying value of the assets they have acquired declines in line with economic activity.
>> Read more
Australian & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), increased its Sovereign backed US dollar bond issue yesterday by a further US$ 850 million. Separately Australia’s fourth largest lender issued a Samurai Bond, raising ¥35 billion or A$ 564 million also backed by the Australian Federal Government.
>> Read more
High profile NAB executive director Ahmed Fahour’s future with the bank has seemingly been called into question after incoming NAB CEO Cameron Clyne has decided to combine the roles of Group chief executive with that of the Australian divisional head. A role previously managed by Mr. Fahour.
>> Read more
Three of Australia’s so called Big Four banks have issued statements saying they have no direct exposure to the collapsed Ponzi scheme run by an American investment firm owned by Bernard Madoff. ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and NAB all said on Monday that none of them had any direct exposures to the scheme, whilst Westpac had no comment according to The Daily Telegraph.
>> Read more
Potential Bidders for Suncorp’s banking unit were given notice by the Australian competition regulator on Wednesday that any deal may be blocked in the aftermath of CBA’s A$ 2.1 billion purchase of BankWest.
>> Read more
Two Australian financial institutions ANZ and Westpac, successfully made use of the Federal Government loan guarantee yesterday by tapping international credit markets and selling bonds to overseas investors.
>> Read more
A computer error resulted in money disappearing from the accounts of 200,000 Commonwealth Bank of Australia customers over the weekend which had the bank scrambling to fix the error and reassure its customers.
>> Read more
No deposit home loans for now are going to be a thing of the past, or at the very least it will become increasingly difficult for prospective home to secure funding on a no deposit basis, if not outright impossible.
>> Read more