Australian Banking & Finance articles from August 2004

Australian Banking & Finance archives from August 2004

It's gold for IAG and Hawker: IAG has dominated Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine's second annual Insurance Awards, being named Best General Insurer and its chief executive, Michael Hawker, crowned as the Best Insurance Executive for 2004.(2004 INSURANCE AWARDS)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... Hawker won the inaugural award as the nation's premier insurance industry executive in 2003. MLC was judged Best Life Insurer while Wesfarmers Federation Insurance was named Best Regional Insurer for the second year in succession. ...

Top CEO wins acclaim from all stakeholders.(Michael Hawker of Insurance Australia Group Ltd., chief executive officer)(Brief Article)(Cover Story)
August 24, 2004... BY ANY MEASURE MICHAEL Hawker is an outstanding executive. Since becoming CEO of IAG in December 2001 he has delivered remarkable results, transforming Australia's biggest general insurer into a much bigger, more focused and financially...

IAG benefits from increased scale.(Insurance Australia Group Ltd., sales and earnings)
August 24, 2004... INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP has enjoyed enormous success in the past year. As we went to press the company was expected to announce a bumper annual result after a strong first half financial performance. A net profit after tax of $302...

MLC has unique approach.(MLC Ltd., services and management)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... THE WEALTH MANAGEMENT division of the National Australia Bank Group, MLC Ltd, manages and operates a diverse portfolio of financial services businesses. Through partnership with a range of financial advisers it provide quality financial...

APIA achieves goals.(Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... AUSTRALIAN PENSIONERS INSURANCE Agency (APIA) is underwritten by Australian Alliance Insurance and was launched in Victoria in 1986. APIA was formed with the goat of providing tailored insurance products to the over 55's market in...

Billy helps ING build its brand.(ING Australia)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... ING IMPLEMENTED THE BILLY Connolly series to reposition from a generic insurance company to broad-based wealth manager, build a top-tier brand and leverage full ING brand presence in Australia and align with emerging global brand strategy. ...

AON the top broker.(services)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... AON IS AUSTRALIA'S LEADING provider of broking and consulting services for risk management, insurance transactions, reinsurance, employee benefits and superannuation. Aon is a global Leader in the design and provision of risk services and...

Colonial offers the complete package.(services of Colonial First State Investments)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... COLONIAL FIRST STATE FIRSTChoice Personal Super offers the complete package to meet your investment, superannuation and retirement needs. You can select from over 60 investment options, including multi-manager and single manager options....

Swiss Re leads pack.(Swiss Reinsurance Co.)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... SWISS RE IS ONE OF THE LEADING global, reinsurers. It offers a wide range of traditional reinsurance products and related services, which are complemented by insurance-based corporate finance solutions and supplementary services. The...

AAMI enhances website.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... SINCE AUGUST 2003, THE AAMI Web site has undergone a series of improvements that have enhanced its usability, accessibility and content, the goat being to replicate the AAMI experience online. The improvements have been designed to satisfy...

Suncorp boasts market share.(Suncorp Insurance and Finance)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... SUNCORP IS AUSTRALIA'S THIRD largest general insurance company. The general insurance business includes personal insurance products such as home and contents and personal effects cover, motor and boat, compulsory third party insurance,...

Wesfarmers expands its wings.(Wesfarmers Federation Insurance launches insurance package for small business owners)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... WHEN WESFARMERS FEDERATION Insurance was formed back in 1919, it was initially to service the insurance requirements of Australia's rural community. As one of Australia's oldest insurance underwriters, WFI has seen many changes over the...

Industry fails to property manage risk.(risk management)
August 24, 2004... RISK MANAGEMENT HAS CLIMBED up the corporate agenda and an awareness of unquantifiable risk has grown, according to a new global survey. The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, written in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit found...

Super assets soar.(percentage growth of funds)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... TOTAL SUPERANNUATION ASSETS rose 3.6 per cent over the March quarter of 2004, the latest edition of Superannuation Trends by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) shows. Superannuation assets now stand at $596 billion. All...

ANZ's custody buy.(ANZ Custodian Services to acquire Trust Company of Australia's custody services business)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... ANZ HAS ENTERED INTO AN agreement with Trust Company of Australia to acquire Trust's orient base for custody services in equity, fixed interest and related asset products, creating a platform for further growth. ANZ Managing Director Trade...

Heritage posts record.(earnings and revenues of Heritage Building Society Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST BUILDING society Heritage has posted a record result for 2003-2004 with before-tax profit up 26.7% to almost $19.6 million. Total member value comprises a record after-tax profit of $13.8 million, up an impressive 20%,...

Banking world.(Santander Central Hispano S.A. to acquire Abbey National PLC)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... Emilio Botin, left, chairman of Santander Central Hispano SA and Abbey chief executive Luqman Arnold shake hands in London, Jury 26, 2004. Now Santander Central. Hispano SA, the largest bank in Spain and Latin America, has agreed to buy Abbey...

Bendigo maintains momentum.(revenues and earnings of Bendigo Bank Ltd.)
August 24, 2004... BENDIGO BANK HAS ANNOUNCED a 2003/2004 operating profit after tax and specific items of $79.8 million, an increase of 35.3 per cent on the previous year. Excluding specific items n primarily the sale of Cashcard Australia Limited shares in...

Fund managers under scrutiny.(NEWS)
August 24, 2004... TO COUNTER BALANCE THE STRONGER investment outlook across the world in 2004, the global funds management industry is facing increasing scrutiny of its business practices, says global professional services firm Deloitte in its report identifying...

Interchange rules and payment distribution.(credit card interchange fees)
August 24, 2004... WHEN THE RESERVE BANK AND ACCC decided in 2000 that credit card interchange fees were distorting the payment choices facing consumers, it led to the RBA stepping in and regulating the four-party credit card schemes in Australia administered by...

Faces of banking & finance 2004.(Alistair Jeffery of Bluestone Mortgages )(Biography)
August 24, 2004... After extensive experience in financial markets in London and New York, Alistair Jeffery was well-equipped to establish Bluestone Mortgages in Australia in 2000. His background and experience, together with hands-on knowledge of the...

Axa to dominate Asia.(AXA Group bids to acquire AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd.)
August 24, 2004... AXA SA, EUROPE'S SECOND-BIGGEST insurer, has offered $3.1 billion to take full control of its Asian business, seeking to speed up growth in a region that is home to 60 per cent of the world's population. Paris-based Axa made a bid with...

Getting back to the bus of insurance.(PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES)
August 24, 2004... INSURERS HAVE TAKEN SOME extremely hard knocks in the past few years. Catastrophic tosses resulting from terrorism, natural disasters and major corporate fraud have wiped a vast sum of capital off industry books. The September 11 events in...

Women fail to adequately protect income.(AUSTRALIAN INSURER)
August 24, 2004... MANY AUSTRALIANS ARE TAKING risks with the amount of insurance they have to protect their families and their income. Women are taking more risks than men with income protection. These are two of the findings of AXA DEXX&R 2004 report on...

Premium rise modest.(insurance premium rates survey)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2004... THE DOMESTIC LINES OF INSURANCE--household, motor and compulsory third party insurance--recorded a 3 per cent weighted average increase in premium rates, the smallest increase in 12 years, according to the annual JP Morgan/Deloitte survey. ...

Foreign takeovers unlikely.
August 31, 2004... SOME OF THE NATION'S TOP bankers believe there is little chance of an international banking giant ever taking a tilt at one of our leading financial institutions. And they agree that differentiation is the key to success in Australia's...

NAB trio confident of returning bank to no. 1.(National Australia Bank)
August 31, 2004... THESE THREE MEN CONTROL THE future of National Australia Group. Ahmed Fahour (from left), Michael Ullmer and CEO John Stewart represent the new guard charged with restoring the Melbourne-based financial institution to its former glory as...

Weiser steers Pioneer.(Current Account)(Pioneer Mortgage Services)(Charles Weiser)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... PIONEER MORTGAGE SERVICES has appointed Charles Weiser as managing director to oversee the company's expansion in the Australasian lending market. He joins Pioneer from RAMS Home Loans where he acted as CEO. Weiser has already...

Mackay posts record profit: regional finance group Mackay Permanent Building Society posted a full year net profit of $2.9 million for the 2003/04 financial year, up 32 per cent on the previous year.(Current Account)(Loan approvals)
August 31, 2004... Chairman Richard Wallace said the record result continued the momentum built by the reshaping of the society which began two-and-a-half years ago. "The progress we have made over the last couple of years has been significant with...

Schwartz set for top role at Investec Bank.(Current Account)(Brian Schwartz)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... INVESTEC BANK HAS APPOINTED Brian Schwartz, AM (presently the CEO of Ernst & Young), as its chief executive. Schwartz, who has gained extensive experience advising large multinationals and Australian corporates as well as entrepreneurial...

On the record.(Current Account)(AMP)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... "AMP is now a much more straight-forward business with growth opportunities which remain attractive in the medium term." AMP CHIEF ANDREW MOHL, ANNOUNCING AN INTERIM PROFIT $378 MILLION AGAINST A LOSS OF $2.16 BILLION A YEAR EARLIER.

Banking world.(Current Account)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... An unidentified person enters the Lazard offices at 121 Boulevard Hausamann in Paris, France. Lazard LLC, the world's largest closely held investment bank, is considering an initial public offering after being approached by five investment...

Why look offshore?(Current Account)(Highland partners co.)
August 31, 2004... FINANCIAL SERVICES ORGANisations are conducting expensive searches offshore to replace senior executives when in many cases there are qualified candidates already in Australia, according to executive search firm Highland Partners. Managing...

Cheque imaging adoption surge.(News)(Point-of-entry capture)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... CHEQUE IMAGING, WHICH BEGAN reemerging as a mere ripple five years ago, is generating a tidal wave of change today. Among the applications likely to make the biggest splash is point-of-entry capture, says research house Celent...

Credit recovery boom.(News)(Credit Corp Group)
August 31, 2004... LISTED FINANCIAL RECOVERIES group Credit Corp Group recorded a 60% increase in net profit after tax to $5.35 million far the June 30 year. The profit result was on the back of a 123% surge in EBITDA for the period, to $16.49 million, and a 67%...

Branch banking assists cross-selling approach: Andre Alphonso, general manager, Australia, Forum Corporation, a leading financial services training company, discusses how the banking industry needs to rediscover the role of the branch manager.(News)
August 31, 2004... Banks are reawakening to the power of face-to-face contact with their customers. One facet of this is that the number of bank branches in Australia increased in 2003, marking a second consecutive year of growth and confirming the period of...

Stop excessive spending on risk: financial institutions are suffering from reactive spending and duplication of efforts on compliance at the expense of overall growth and data convergence is the obvious cure.(News)
August 31, 2004... This was a key finding from a recent survey of reading financial institutions conducted by BearingPoint and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Wasteful spending and duplication of efforts around risk management and financial...

Westpac uses web better than rivals.(News)(Westpac banking corp.)
August 31, 2004... AS AUSTRALIA'S PERSONAL credit debt continues to grow, local banks have begun using their websites as part of the push to attract new customers. However the effectiveness of websites varies dramatically between banks, according to new...

Customers prefer postal messages: Australians want to hear from banks and financial institutions through their letterboxes, according to a new survey from TNS Research.(News)
August 31, 2004... The independent research is the first to provide a clear picture of how Australians want to hear from banks and financial institutions. It reveals that post is the preferred medium for receiving advertising and promotional information, with...

Insuring the right info.(News)(Industry Overview)
August 31, 2004... AS THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY has moved from turbulence and uncertainty to a growth and profitability cycle, the number of challenges for management remains unchanged. For general insurers climate change and risk pricing remain two key areas...

Non-conforming lending is here to stay: to say the Australian mortgage market never stands still is an understatement.(News)
August 31, 2004... And nowhere is that more true than in the non-conforming mortgage market. The niche, non-conforming market has grown rapidly over the past four years and is now a dynamic sector with a broad range of specialist lenders offering innovative...

Insurance awards attract big audience.(News)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... More than 300 members of the insurance industry gathered in Sydney this month for the second annual Insurance Awards, presented by Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine. IAG chief executive Michael Hawker was a popular winner of the Best...

Fraud emerges in secured portfolios.(News)(Credit risk)
August 31, 2004... CREDIT RISK FOR FINANCIAL institutions in the consumer Lending space has exponentially increased over recent years due to factors like identity theft, identity creation and the overall expansion of fraud "footprints" facilitated by the Web. ...

Technology enhances offerings to wealthy.(high net worth individuals)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR analysing and offering information, solutions and services will be key differentiating factors for financial institutions serving the investment needs of wealthy investors, according to Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, joint...

Currency management key.(News)(AMP capital investors co.)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... RESEARCH FROM AMP CAPITAL Investors has shown that currency management is equally important in times of currency weakness as it is in times of strength. With the Australian dollar possibly entering a downward trend it is time to reassess...

AMP to reduce fees.(News)
August 31, 2004... AMP WILL REDUCE FEES BY UP to 10 per cent across its flagship super and pension products, while adding extra flexibility and investment choices. It will also change its product disclosure to provide information that is easier for consumers...

AB&F Award winners discuss critical issues.(People--Best Bankers Panel Discussion)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... Some of the winners of the 2004 Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine Awards came together in Sydney last month for a panel discussion lunch sponsored by Optus. The panel comprised Gail Kelly, Allan Moss, David Liddy, Vaughn Richtor and...

How to truly differentiate your bank: increased competition and the commoditisation of banking products have continued to exert tremendous pricing pressure on retail banks across the Asia Pacific and Japan region.(News)
August 31, 2004... The simple fact is that many of the region's retail banks are targeting the same customers, with products that are largely undifferentiated. In response, many banks have announced strategies focused on customer service as a means of...

What do customers think of life insurance?(News)
August 31, 2004... THE FINANCIAL ADVICE CENTRE, SPONSORS of the best life insurance product at the Australian Banking & Finance Insurance Awards 2004, has recently released the findings of some unique consumer research which answers a key question for the life...

Top insurers come together for luncheon discussion.(Peoplpe--Best Insurers Panel Discussion)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine presented a panel discussion luncheon in Sydney recently comprising some of the winners of the 20003 Insurance Awards. The panel comprised Michael Hawker from IAG, Paul Bedbrook from ING, Elizabeth Aris...

Behind the screens.(News)(insurance industry awards ceremony)
August 31, 2004... IAG supreme Michael Hawker was a worthy winner of this magazine's 2004 annual Insurance Awards. He backed up his success in 2003 after an outstanding year of profits and reorganisation of our biggest general insurance company. Hawker,...

Welcome to new age banking.(News)
August 31, 2004... WHEN YOU WALK INTO A hardware store, department store, or even an airport and you're not quite sure where things are, isn't it nice to have someone from that organisation walking amongst customers offering assistance? This trend is...

Capital gains.(News)(Brief Article)
August 31, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "How can a fund that's losing us money call itself socially responsible?"