http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news Australian Finance News from Money-Au.com.au Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:02:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Guy Debelle, an assistant governor with the Reserve Bank of Australia has warned that it was extremely likely that interest rates would rise further, but said that central bank was acutely aware that higher levels of household debt, means that tightening monetary policy had a far greater impact than it ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/rba-says-further-interest-rate-hikes-likely-6296/ Bankwest has waded into the residential mortgage backed securities market for the first time since it was acquired by Commonwealth Bank for $2 billion. The lender launched a $620 million deal with three different classes of securities. Global credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s gave the $586 million in A-class notes ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/bankwest-enters-rmbs-market-for-first-time-since-being-acquired-by-cba-6290/ Australia’s superannuation industry, estimated to manage $1.2 trillion in assets, will eventually have to assume a leadership position as the country’s largest institutional investor as it increases in size by more than four fold over the next two decades. Speaking at a conference on the superannuation industry held in Brisbane on ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/investments/superannuation-funds-to-eventually-become-australias-largest-institutional-investor-6285/ The Australian central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says that bad debt charges faced by Australia’s major lenders appear to have peaked, and in doing so will help them maintain their position amongst the most profitable banks in the world. According to the minutes of the most recent meeting ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/rba-says-bad-debt-cycle-has-peaked-6282/ Global bank giant Citibank has ambitions to end the near total dominance of Australia’s Big Four banking groups on the consumer credit card market. Citibank, which is the retail banking operation of Citigroup says it wants to usurp NAB’s position as the fourth most active issuer of Australian credit cards. John Larsen ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/citibank-has-ambitious-plans-for-australian-credit-card-market-6278/ The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is cracking down on thousands of wealthy individuals and has asked banks to warn customers using offshore tax haven accounts that they may face huge penalties for doing so. According to a report in The Australian, the ATO has contacted a number of international lenders with ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/australian-tax-office-to-crack-down-on-tax-evaders-6273/ The Federal Treasury believes that the financial services industry in Australia remains highly competitive, despite the capturing of a large proportion of market share by major lenders in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Secretary of the Treasury Ken Henry on Monday said that though some financial institutions continue to face ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/treasury-secretary-says-australian-financial-services-highly-competitive-6268/ Kevin Rudd’s government says it full intends to follow through with controversial new regulations for the superannuation industry despite vehement opposition from the sector. Jeremy Cooper who heads the government inquiry into the superannuation industry, also known as the Super System Review, told industry participants that whilst the government did not ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/investments/super-fund-reform-two-decades-too-late-says-industry-6264/ The Australian central bank, The Reserve bank of Australia (RBA) says it remains a "reluctant regulator" of competition in the electronic card payments system space. The RBA says it prefers competition as the mechanism used to contain fees, and would like to take a step back instead, however RBA assistant ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/australian-central-bank-remains-reluctant-regulator-of-electronic-payments-system-6259/ Steve Tucker, chief executive of MLC, the wealth management unit of Australian banking major National Australia Bank (NAB) says he is confident that the lenders $13.2 billion bid for AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (APH) will ultimately be successful, despite the fact that the ACCC on Friday deferred its ruling on ... http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/nab-optimistic-over-axa-aph-acquisition-6255/