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Financial Services

Yesterday

Andy Schmulow NSW senate candidate in the Federal 2025 Election.

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.

This Month

Election policies will spur further change in the housing market.

Mortgage market set for sweeping change, distortion as election looms

The pork-barrelling measures will likely spur house price growth as demand climbs, while knock-on effects will hit the lenders mortgage insurance market.

IAG denies that it should cover insurance claims taken out by Greensill through its half-owned agency BCC.

Greensill Bank alleges IAG executives knew of billion-dollar policies

The claim, filed with the Federal Court, has been brought against the insurance giant by German investors owed money by Lex Greensill’s failed financial group.

Bank of Queensland shares rose 5.5 per cent after its first-half result.

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.

The guts of Mineral Resources and WiseTech’s issues is who, if anyone, can replace founders Chris Ellison and Richard White.

WiseTech and MinRes’ founder troubles are now succession problems

With their leaders’ power galvanised by scandals, the two companies are trying to get on with life. But what does the future really look like?

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Bank of Queensland chief executive Patrick Allaway is finally seeing a bit of momentum from his turnaround.

BoQ is the biggest experiment in Australian banking

Turning a regional lender into a sustainable competitor to the big four is a mammoth task. Bank of Queensland’s turnaround might be about to get mugged by reality.

Geoff Cousins and Richard Flanagan have slammed sustainability-linked loans to Tasmanian salmon farmers.

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”.

Mike Hirst doesn’t seem to rate AMP’s reputation highly.

AMP rates its own reputation among the worst

From Qantas to Rio Tinto to ANZ to Optus, AMP’s board must have a dire view of the company AMP keeps in terms of public standing.

T-Corp’s Stewart Brentnall said valuations were “not to reflect the tactical value of an asset in particularly unusual market circumstances”, and instead what a reasonable buyer would pay.

Big investors wield private assets to cushion returns from wild market

The nation’s largest money managers, including the big superannuation funds, are using unlisted holdings to manage the fallout of volatile global equities.

Wilson Asset Management has a retail investor network of more than 130,000.

WAM Income Maximiser raise misses the mark in challenging market

Street Talk understands Wilson Asset Management brought in roughly $150 million for its new ASX-listed vehicle, a far cry from the $510 million target sought in the prospectus.

Star Entertainment CEO Steve McCann fronted investors for the first time since he picked up a $300 million rescue deal. He got three questions – that’s it.

Star accounts reveal Bally’s is trying to catch a falling knife

The gaming group isn’t out of the woods. If its shares are worth much, you have to squint really hard to see it.

StoreLocal’s four-level self-storage facility with coworking space at its site in Brisbane’s Hendra.

BlackRock makes inroads into self storage, buys $400m-plus local biz

Street Talk understands BlackRock is poised to acquire StoreLocal, a privately owned player that’s built a $300 million-plus portfolio across Australia.

Sydney-based turnaround specialist Anchorage Capital Partners bought commercial laundry and dry-cleaning business SPL in 2018.

Anchorage Capital Partners meets with lenders at laundries business

Deutsche Bank helped Anchorage Capital bankroll its purchase of South Pacific Laundries in 2018.

Automic helped Guzman y Gomez execute its $2.2 billion IPO in 2024.

Five V appoints Goldman Sachs to run $500m-plus Automic sale

The share registry services company is expected to fetch $500 million-plus at auction.

China’s President Xi Jinping still needs to fire a stimulus bazooka.

China’s economy – not tariffs – is the big risk to Australia

Despite the trade war, the iron ore price has barely blinked. But big global investors doubt that’s sustainable, and that means a big hit on our miners.

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A group of branch owners is fighting Bank of Queensland over its store acquisition strategy.

BoQ’s war with branch owners escalates over buyback price

Aggrieved franchisees are demanding at least double what was paid by the Brisbane-based lender for their stores, setting the scene for a showdown. 

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Barrenjoey prints $300m line in Sigma Healthcare

About 100 million shares in Sigma Healthcare changed hands ahead of the market open on Monday.

Adrian Portelli at the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

Portelli hits fast lane on mooted LMCT+ sale, MacCap takes the wheel

Several conversations around how a change of control could play out and the steps needed to make LMCT+ sale-ready had taken place since the end of last year. 

Cash management innovations are gaining traction in government finance, a complex operating environment which involves multi-billions of dollars in cash flows.

From spreadsheets to strategy: how AI rewrites the rules of treasury

The latest advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping solve the complex challenges corporate treasurers face.

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Former executive general manager Trading Services ASX, David Raper, now runs Automic Group.

Five V issues RFP for share registry provider Automic

Australia’s investment banking top tier – Barrenjoey, UBS, Macquarie, Goldman Sachs and Jarden – have all pitched for a role.

The nation’s second-largest superannuation fund will cut dozens of jobs in a broad restructure.

Australian Retirement Trust restructures investment team, cuts jobs

The country’s second-largest superannuation fund has acquired six funds over the past year and says it will streamline operations, cutting key investing roles.

Major investment banks, from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs to local upstart Jarden, are reconsidering how they work to accommodate the rise of private capital.

Investment bank org charts are getting remade for the age of big super

Jarden is just the latest big investment advisor to reconsider the best way to interact with retirement funds as they become bigger players in capital markets.

Adam Trippe-Smith, founder and CEO of Konvoy Kegs and White Bay Brewery.

US trade player, Tanarra lob bids for Konvoy Kegs

Kegstar is said to be among a handful of parties being ushered through to the second round of the auction.

Macquarie’s Ben Way, LinkedIn poster.

Star Macquarie executive is the master of corporate drivel

Macquarie’s head of asset management Ben Way shows humility gets lost on LinkedIn.

Scape Australia co-founder Craig Carracher

We have a winner: Brookfield grants exclusivity for $3b Aveo

Dutch investor APG, which is the Netherlands largest pension provider, and Bouwinvest, a property fund manager, are among Scape Australia’s backers.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services