Today
Westpac boss bets on farms in renewed agriculture push
A visit to the northern NSW town of Moree last month made it clear to Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller he should continue to reopen branches in regional areas.
Westpac CEO pitches ambitious growth agenda, as half-year profit dips
Westpac’s first-half net profit of $3.3 billion and interim dividend missed expectations, ast CEO Anthony Miller outlined his plans to sell more products to existing customers.
Yesterday
Small business says Labor’s card surcharge ban will be inflationary
Hotel and cafe lobby groups will meet the RBA’s head of payments to raise concerns about plans for the surcharge ban this week.
This Month
Judo, Block shares smashed after misses
Quarterly updates from the business bank and payments player met a savage market reaction, with loan and sales growth undershooting because of business uncertainty.
ASX forced to lift CHESS resourcing after damning RBA assessment
The market operator faces cost pressures next year amid growing regulatory scrutiny, analysts say.
April
Regional bank levy still an option with Treasury seeking more data
A pre-Easter email from Treasury officials to regional banks seeking detailed cost data suggests plans for a cost-sharing levy remain in the works.
Political scrutiny of mortgage rates to pressure bank margins
Ahead of interim earnings at Westpac, NAB and ANZ next week, analysts are questioning whether bank stocks can remain safe-haven assets.
New Zealand proposes law change to deliver CBA, ANZ major legal win
The country’s conservative government has taken the unusual step in intervening in a stoush between thousands of bank customers and the lenders with new laws.
Will insurance premiums ever get cheaper?
The country’s big insurers have found themselves in a political storm as the cost of policies balloons $30 billion over a decade. But are those hikes unfair?
Why this PwC and big bank agitator is running for the Senate
Law academic Andy Schmulow has had enough. Big companies are too powerful and corrupting democracy, he argues. And he wants to ask them the hard questions.
BoQ boss says he’ll stick around to see transformation through
Patrick Allaway intends to remain in charge until at least October 2026, by when he hopes to have delivered $250 million in productivity savings.
Westpac and CBA face green ire over $500m loan to salmon farmers
High-profile environmentalists Richard Flanagan and Geoff Cousins say the major lenders are being misleading by describing the financing as “sustainable”.
Armaguard, banks seek independent price-setter for cash delivery
Resolving the cash transport drama is one step closer, with a callout this week for an expert to set contract prices – at a fair margin for Linfox.
Revealed: RBA’s scathing warning it has ‘lost confidence’ in ASX
In a strongly worded missive sent to the exchange’s chief executive Helen Lofthouse weeks before an outage, the central bank warned of entrenched problems.
Bank stocks still seen as a haven by investors
Bank shares are down 15pc from February peaks but have performed relatively better during the Trump tariff turmoil, as investors struggle to find alternatives.
CBA and Westpac mull removing numbers from their credit cards
Australia is expected to be the first major market to embrace numberless credit cards in the next two years, according to Mastercard.
ANZ review found staff raised concerns and middle managers failed them
Oliver Wyman’s detailed report into the cultural problems within the bank’s markets unit has singled out weak leaders who failed to supervise powerful traders.
APRA lashes ANZ’s risk culture, raises capital penalty to $1b
A separate review of the bank found “weaknesses in culture, leadership, and infrastructure could lead to material issues in the future”.
Coalition plan to lower lending standards ‘will drive up house prices’
A Peter Dutton-led government would direct the prudential regulator to lower the home loan serviceability buffer if it wins the federal election.
March
RBA, ASIC say they are ‘increasingly concerned’ about ASX
The regulators said the market operator was not complying with risk mitigation standards after an outage in December left investors unable to settle trades.