Amy Auster, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
Out of the many changes the federal government has made to ASIC, the review of the Financial Ombudsman will have the biggest impact on customers.
Almost a year after it was finished, the government has responded to the Financial System Inquiry, agreeing with the majority of its recommendations.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The Turnbull government will ban businesses from charging consumers excessive surcharges on their credit cards, and move to inject more competition into the superannuation industry.
Large Australian banks are being required to significantly increase their levels of equity capital.
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Voluntary administration was considered a state-of-the-art rescue procedure for struggling companies in 1993. But is is time for another wide-ranging review of our insolvency laws?
The Commonwealth Bank’s chief executive Ian Narev apologised to clients given poor financial planning advice.
AAP/Stefan Postles
The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow and nowhere slower than in the Sydney headquarters of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). A recent report appears to show that ASIC…
Unlike America, Australia is overbanked.
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A key component of the Financial System Inquiry handed to Treasurer Joe Hockey this week was that “the financial system should be subject and responsive to market forces, including competition”. But on…
With banks pulling back on lending to small business, the sector has had to look elsewhere for funding.
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Since the global financial crisis, credit growth in Australia has returned. But while growth in home lending between 2008 and 2014 was relatively strong (0.49% per month), it was actually negative for…
The emphasis on the lump sum in superannuation unfairly moves risk to individuals.
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Having led the world in the 1990s in embracing defined contribution retirement plans, Australia now is rightly reviewing whether the design of its retirement income system is meeting the needs of Australians…
The focus is shifting to how Australians access their super to fund retirement.
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A good proportion of the Financial System Inquiry’s 460-page interim report is dedicated to a discussion of superannuation and, in particular, to making the financial system better at facilitating the…
The big four banks have a well-entrenched sales culture.
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Reading between the lines it appears the panel behind Australia’s wide-reaching Financial System Inquiry believes all is not well in the financial advice industry, despite last year’s implementation of…
Financial System Inquiry chair David Murray delivered the 460 page interim report at the National Press Club today.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Charis Palmer, The Conversation and Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
The last financial system inquiry held in Australia happened in 1997. More than a decade and a global financial crisis later, the sector is under scrutiny again. The inquiry delivered its interim report…
Australia’s massive superannuation sector is costly compared with its global counterparts.
Joel Carrett/AAP
Australia’s financial system is competitive and well regulated, but more work is required to boost superannuation competition, according to the interim report of the Financial System Inquiry, led by former…
Conflicts abound in Australia’s financial system.
Dan Peled/AAP
At the current frequency of financial system inquiries (Campbell 1982, Wallis 1997, Murray 2014) there will not be another until 2030. That makes this week’s interim report from David Murray all the more…
An increasing number of consumers choose a broker over going direct to a bank for their home loan.
Dan Peled/AAP
Over 40% of mortgages in Australia are sold by mortgage brokers, not by their manufacturers - an issue that has the CEO of Australia’s fifth largest bank, Suncorp, arguing the sector is skewed towards…
Superannuation: you give, they take.
Paul Kelly/Flickr
The main reason superannuation costs are too high in Australia is both simple and horrendously complex: it’s the only service we buy where we give the service provider our money to look after. It’s true…