The 2007-2008 banking crash ushered in an era of austerity and pay freezes, but bank executives have continued to enjoy disproportionate rewards even though their institutions have been bailed out by taxpayers…
US bankers like JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon fear increased bank regulation.
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A plan by US regulators to impose greater capital requirements on the nation’s eight biggest banks has prompted complaints it will put the banks at a global disadvantage. The proposal is that the banks…
All banking comes with risk, but it could be better disclosed.
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What is the interest rate on your savings account? If you don’t know, you can easily find out. Banks advertise their rates prominently. They want you to know what they’re offering. After all, the interest…
The ongoing global financial crisis (because we’re not out of it yet, are we?) is often characterised as a crisis of trust. Distrust of the banks was a major theme – but distrust extended also to credit…
“It takes me about two hours to assemble a team of financial geeks and lawyers to devise a product or a transaction that would bypass any regulation coming our way,” a senior French banker said to me in…
The global crash of 2008 kicked off a furious debate in the UK about whether or not the City of London is a real asset to the economy. There was huge anger about the multi-billion bail-out of failed banks…
Prior to the global financial crisis, 100% loans were commonplace in Australia.
Casey Konstantin/Flickr
Australian banks are much more heavily exposed to mortgage lending than banks in most parts of the world, which is why the latest publication of APRA data on home lending has set the hares running. The…
Bank of Melbourne relaunched its new look branch network in 2011 as part of a broader push to build customer relationships.
Joe Castro/AAP
UK banking giant Barclays has revealed plans to lay off 1700 branch staff and shrink its branch network as customers embrace online and mobile banking. The street faces of banks are changing quickly. Where…
Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev announces a record full-year profit of A$7.8 billion, ahead of this week’s $2.1 billion quarterly result.
Paul Miller/AAP
Like most companies, banks report their profits twice a year. Each time the majors report we see headlines about the size of the profits and implicit or explicit criticism of the amount – this time about…
Recent regulator thinking on the financial system has been to favour stability over competition.
thehutch/Flickr
Reporting season has delivered another round of record bank profits. Yet, in itself, this is no bad thing. Former Reserve Bank governor, the late Sir Harold Knight, used to quip that profitable banks don’t…
ANZ chief Mike Smith was recruited to help ANZ succeed in Asia.
Julian Smith/AAP
ANZ Bank has delivered another record profit, promising shareholders a bigger dividend than expected on the back of cash earnings of A$6.49 billion. But despite the bank’s continued Australian and international…
In the good old days you could spot a robber from his glossy finish.
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Two recent incidents have shown that you no longer need to risk life and limb to rob a bank. In September, an attempted cyber-robbery at a London branch of Santander was stopped in its tracks and shortly…
Are there viable investment alternatives to funding coal and energy projects in the Great Barrier Reef region?
AAP
Earlier this month, Australia’s Big Four banks copped a serve over their support of the coal and gas extraction industries, focusing attention on the ways large banks’ investment decisions can put the…
RBS: Not as valuable as it used to be.
David Cheskin/PA
The UK could be about to make a multi-billion pound mistake. Plans to sell-off the 82% share of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the 39% share of Lloyds owned by the taxpayer are gaining favour in…
Australia Post have every reason to be pleased with their role in the online shopping revolution. They are central to the process by providing a means of converting the virtual into the real, by delivering…
Deposit insurance has been mooted for Australian banks - but should we accept as given current banking structures which create too-big-to-fail banks?
AAP
Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
There is a growing chorus of support for introduction of a fee for the protection provided to bank deposits (up to the $250,000 cap) by the Financial Claims Scheme (or deposit insurance as it would be…
A former mortgage broker - who is now facing fraud charges - has blown the whistle on predatory lending practices in Australia’s financial services industry.
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The level of sub-prime mortgages in Australia may be far in advance of what was previously assumed and provided for by banks. The story was broken on the ABC, and covered elsewhere. The revelations centred…
UK-listed bank Standard Chartered stands accused of violating US sanctions against Iran by hiding $237 billion in transactions with Iranian banks.
AAP
The suit lodged against Standard Chartered in Manhattan by the New York State Department of Financial Services has served its first purpose: capturing the headlines and putting the banking industry once…
Banks behaving badly: ensuring banks’ sustainability reports are accurate and credible will go some way in restoring public confidence.
AAP
“Events over the past couple of years have raised profound questions about the ways in which banks and businesses contribute to society. For both to play their full part, they must restore trust and become…