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Financial Services

Yesterday

Linden Toll a charming and charismatic investor who has been found guilty of dishonestly obtaining advantage by deception.

‘Seduced by his personality’: The fall of a finance fraudster

Linden Toll was a former Sydney Grammar boy and one-time Macquarie futures trader who promised investors interest rates on loans of 10 to 12 per cent. But it was all a facade.

Macquarie’s Shemara Wikramanayake is the highest paid executive in the company this year.

Macquarie risks first-ever strike amid disquiet over bumper pay days

Two influential advisory firms are urging their clients to reject salaries and bonuses, citing a failure to hold executives accountable for compliance issues.

A $10 billion battle for a piece of Australia’s property sector is brewing.

Hostplus’ $10b property bomb is a warning for all Australian investors

Lendlease and Mirvac’s battle for three funds is about more than $10.5 billion in assets. It’s about who gets to invest the whopper retirement savings pool.

Private equity is increasingly dominating wealth management.

Meet the Wall Street deal legends behind the sale of MLC

The private equity firm that’s nabbed MLC owner Insignia Financial has two titans driving its latest deal. They’ll need plenty of patience.

ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos has been hosting town hall meetings across the country and overseas to bring home his message of change.

ANZ’s Nuno Matos reads riot act to staff, says culture must ‘pivot’

The newly installed chief executive has been holding a series of town hall forums and meeting government officials as he stamps his authority over the bank.

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Simon Holmes à Court, Climate 200 founder, is an early backer of Future Group.

Future Group to launch secondary sale at $280m valuation

Street Talk understands Future Group will go to its investors later today to announce a secondary sale.

Insignia Financial CEO Scott Hartley.

Insignia undervalued by public markets, says CEO after $3.2b takeover

All-cash private equity deal will put an end to the uncertainty that has hung over the 180-year-old wealth management giant amid a protracted takeover tussle.

Richard Clarida

Pimco’s man from inside the Fed says Jerome Powell not for turning

As the central bank’s former vice chairman, Richard Clarida has first-hand insights into the politics and communication challenges it faces in an age of Donald Trump.

Metoric’s capital raising comes as President Trump has been talking up Greenland as an option to gain access to rare earths minerals. But that’s no quick solution.

Meteoric Resources passes can around as two brokers hired

The miner is looking for about $35 million in fresh funds via an institutional placement.

Macquarie Group chairman Glenn Stevens, chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake and CFO Alex Harvey ahead of the 2024 AGM.

Strange side-hustles around Macquarie’s CEO succession

The bank’s CFO Alex Harvey is a potential successor to Shemara Wikramanayake. He’s also in business with another former Macquarie CEO.

This Month

Samuel Green has rejoined Goldman Sachs as a managing director.

Goldman Sachs adds MD to real estate ranks

Samuel Green will rejoin the Wall Street bank, based in Sydney, as a managing director after an eight-year interlude.

Ellerston Capital’s David Keelan is banking on a killer paydown from NOJA Power.

NOJA Power process down to the short strokes: Blackstone bankers up

Blackstone and EQT are through to the second stage, with the former understood to have hired Michael Stock’s Jefferies Australia.

Franking credits are no good in a company’s back pocket.

Franking frenzy: The push is on for dividend treats

Tax system changes are in the zeitgeist and hanging over companies’ decisions. There could be money for investors.

CPA Australia superannaution lead Richard Webb said, with financial advice more expensive and difficult to obtain, people were prone to gambling their retirement savings.

AMP boss urges platforms to ditch ‘bad apples’ after $1b failure

CEO Alexis George says the recent failure of two investment schemes was “horrific for the industry and horrific for the community”.

Market tearaways Amplia Therapeutics and Elsight were in front of fundies on Monday asking for new equity.

Bell Potter kicks off equity raisings for Amplia, Elsight

The shares of Amplia Therapeutics and Elsight Limited were placed in a trading halt on Monday morning. 

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How many AI agents does it take to change a smart bulb?

Australia must regulate AI for productivity growth, not just for risk

What’s needed now is a policy framework that empowers markets while safeguarding customers. One that encourages innovation, rather than simply fearing disruption.

Cedar Pacific CEO Bernie Armstrong.

PE-backed student living developer Cedar Pacific hits fundraising trail

The Brisbane-based fund manager has hit the pavement to raise a $100 million-plus fund from wealthy families and investors.

Fee increases on some products are also likely to help offset the RBA’s proposed changes.

Apple Pay at risk as end of card reward programs as we know them looms

Far-reaching RBA proposals to change how credit card payment processing is paid for blindsided banking executives last week. The pushback is about to begin.

Tuong Lai Restaurant owner Bic Nguyen. The restaurant, in Sydney’s Cabramatta, prefers cash over card.

Tap and go? Credit cards? In these suburbs, cash is still king

More than 1 million people use banknotes and coins for their everyday payments, even as regulators and banks prepare for the day the country goes cashless.

Adrian Redlich of Merricks Capital is managing redemption requests in his flagship fund.

Another week, another moment of reckoning for private credit funds

Three months ago, investors were cheering the stability of their investments amid a turbulent market. Now it’s clear that there’s a cost for that upside.

James Mawhinney leaving the Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 9 after being arrested and charged with four counts of engaging in dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business. He says he will defend the charges.

The quiet death of Mayfair 101 founder’s ASIC conspiracy theory

A Federal Court judge has ruled that James Mawhinney’s $1.6 billion Dunk Island vision was not only fatally flawed, its collapse could not be blamed on ASIC.

Peter Fox, Armaguard group executive chairman, has rebutted the Reserve Bank’s pursuit of new powers to intervene in his monopoly cash distribution business.

Billionaire Fox family says RBA’s push on cash powers is ‘unusual’

Armaguard’s owners say they have no interest in selling the dominant banknote and coin transport business if banks and regulators agreed to “fair prices”.

Construction of Halo, the 55-storey tower proposed for the corner of Sydney’s Hunter and Pitt streets.

Regal-backed Merricks delays redemptions from $1.2b flagship fund

The private credit firm has told investors it cannot meet requests until at least December, but is promoting loans as a “particularly attractive opportunity”.

Mark De Ambrosis is co-founder and managing director of Armitage Associates.

Armitage readies healthtech for sale, tapping Houlihan Lokey

Mark De Ambrosis’ Armitage first bought into MYP in December 2020, acquiring a stake just north of 50 per cent.

National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Irvine has not faced disciplinary action following the complaints.

NAB directors met to discuss Andrew Irvine, urging him to smarten up

The Phil Chronican-led board informally convened this week amid disquiet from institutional investors about the bank CEO’s management style, sources said.

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