Australian Banking & Finance articles from January 2004

Australian Banking & Finance archives from January 2004

Market welcomes NAB revamp: the market has welcomed the move by NAB chief executive Frank Cicutto to quit his position.(National Australia Bank Ltd.)
January 31, 2004... The move, which saw NAB's share price jump sharply, was announced just as Australian Banking & Finance went to press. Reuters reported Cicutto bowed to calls for his departure and was replaced immediately by the head of the bank's Large...

International companies quit Australia.
January 31, 2004... A NEW WAVE OF RESTRUCTURING is expected in the Australian financial services sector in the next five years, according to a new briefing by the financial services group of PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Economist Intelligence Unit. However...

Housing slowdown to hit earnings.(Current Account)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... AUSTRALIAN RANKS FACE challenges in maintaining their recently strong financial performance as home lending and consumption are Likely ease towards the end of 20g/-., says Fitch Ratings. In its annual review of the Australian banks,...

Cashcard achieves record volumes.(Current Account)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... CASHCARB ACHIEVED THE HIGHEST daily transaction volume it has ever processed on Christmas Eve, recording an 18% increase on 2002. The previous day, also set a record eclipsing the previous highest volumes recorded. Cashcard predicts that...

NSW T-Corp completes 75% of funding needs.(Current Account)(NSW Treasury Corporation.)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... NSW TREASURY CORPORATION'S annual, funding program for the 2003/2004 financial year, announced at the time of the NSW Budget in June last year, estimated an annual funding requirement of $5.2 billion. In the first half of the financial year...

Banking world.(Current Account)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... SWITZERLAND'S PARLIAMENT HAS VOTED TO ADD banking secrecy, the foundation of the country's financial services industry, to the constitution, saying the 68-year-old financial privacy act is under siege from European neighbours. The measure...

On the record.
January 31, 2004... "You can't pass the buck down the line, it's got to be passed up the line." MACQUARIE EQUITIES PRIVATE CLIENT ADVISER DAVID HALLIDAY ON THE NAB FOREX SCANDAL. "It's just not this issue atone. It's the issue of a cumulative effect of a...

CBA's new multicurrency service.(Current Account)(Commonwealth Bank of Australia )
January 31, 2004... THE COMMONWEALTH Bank plans to introduce an EFTPOS multicurrency service for its merchant customers. The solution will enable international credit card customers the flexibility of using their credit card to make payment paying in their...

SIA launches new financial advisory course.(Current Account)(Securities Industry Association)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... FOLLOWING AN EXTENSIVE review with industry, the Securities Institute has relaunched its 2004 open entry financial planning courses to enable planners to achieve more ASIC adviser competencies sooner. "What emerged in the review process is...

Mortgage brokers now part of awards.(News)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... THE 14TH ANNUAL 2004, Australian Banking & Finance Awards are up and running--and this year promises to be the best ever. To reflect their growing importance in the market, we have added a new category to reward the mortgage broking...

A Christmas comedy of errors.(News)(bank systems and procedures)
January 31, 2004... I'M SURE THIS COULD NEVER happen at your branch. In order to pay my way in cash through the Christmas period, I went into my branch in early December and told the teller I wanted to draw out $3000. To my amazement, after formalities...

Faces of banking and finance 2004.(News)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... One executive looking to make an impact in financial services this year is Greg Kotivos, general manager of RAMS. Kotivos took charge Late [Last year, replacing Charles Weiser. He is responsible for the overall direction of the...

Macquarie out to stay No 1.(News)
January 31, 2004... MACQUARIE BANK, AUSTRALIA'S best-performing bank stock in 2003, may have a hard time staying No 1 this year as management fees stow at toll-road, airport and property funds that provide almost a quarter of its revenue. Australia's only...

Banks fail to exploit card potential: few of Asia-Pacific's banks are yet geared up to exploit the vast potential that exists for credit cards across the region--with only a handful of local players operating at anything near world-class standards.(News)
January 31, 2004... Instead, from Japan to Australia and from India to Hong Kong, the market is dominated by European and American cards issuers. The list includes HSBC, Standard Chartered, GE, American Express, Citibank, Cetelem and ABN AMRO. "This indicates...

Banks open more branches to meet customer demand.(News)(Australian Prudential Regulation Authority)
January 31, 2004... THE TREND BACK TO BRANCHES has been confirmed with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's [APRA] Points of Presence 2003 survey showing there has been an increase of 69 bank branches in the last three years. David Bell, chief...

AMP's cash rebound.(News)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... AMP HAS RECEIVED SOME positive new year news with cash flows at its financial services unit rebounding in the second half of 2003, halting a net outflow of funds, and positioning the insurer and fund manager for a strong year ahead. ...

ICA proposes reforms to protect against failures.(Australian Insurer)(Insurance CouncilL Of Australia)
January 31, 2004... THE INSURANCE COUNCIL OF Australia [ICA] has announced a proposal, to introduce a package of stronger regulatory reforms to help protect consumers against any future company failure, similar to HIH. ICA's recommended package was submitted...

IBM helps agents comply with FSRA.(Australian Insurer)(Financial Services Reform Act )(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... IBM IS WORKING WITH A consortium of six of Australia's major providers of general insurance to deliver the industry's first centralised electronic compliance Hub designed to simplify Life for all under the Financial Services Reform Act [FSRA]....

PrefSure wins control of Lumley Life Group.(Australian Insurer)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... THE ACQUISITION OF LUMLEY life by PrefSure Holdings [formerly Capital Alliance Holdings [Australia], the holding company of PrefSure Life, became effective December 30. This follows financial settlement and receipt of the necessary...

St Andrew's receives life insurance licence.(Australian Insurer)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... ST ANDREW'S AUSTRALIA PTY Ltd, a leader in Consumer Credit Insurance [CCI], has received approval to operate a new life insurance company. In only its seventh year of operation in Australia, St Andrew's--a HBOS subsidiary--was advised by...

Changes in protection insurance create confusion in marketplace.(Australian Insurer)
January 31, 2004... WHILE AVIVA AUSTRALIA'S UPGRade guarantee aims to provide surety for advisers and their clients, policyholders of some other providers could be forgiven for worrying if definitions of an insurance product sold today will meet their potential,...

New generation of self-service solutions: Diebold Incorporated, a leading global provider of self service solutions, has unveiled a revolutionary new series of automated teller machines (ATMs) that provides financial institutions with a new generation of self service solutions, services and support for today's marketplace.(Special feature: ATM buyers marketplace)(Automated Teller Machine )
January 31, 2004... The new ATMs, collectively known as Opteva[TM] offer financial institutions a raft of improvements including: * Enhanced security features for financial institutions and their customers * Financial benefits such as reduced cash...

Bank of QLD upgrades ATM network.(Special feature: ATM buyers marketplace)(Automated Teller Machine )(Bank of Queensland )
January 31, 2004... DIEBOLD AUSTRALIA HAS COMpleted the major part of a project to implement 155 automated teller machines (ATMs) for the Bank of Queensland. This initial project, to install 131 ATMs across the bank's branch network, has earned the bank a...

Individualised customer service: the ATM application software suite APTRA[TM] is the world's most popular, currently running self-service networks for over 200 banks worldwide--about 10 times the take-up of its nearest challenger.(Special feature: ATM buyers marketplace)(Automated Teller Machine)
January 31, 2004... THE MAIN REASON FOR APTRA'S success is that it was designed for self-service 'within an enterprise'--NCR, who developed the suite, recognises that the ATM channel, although the most trusted and ubiquitous, is just one of several. A bank's...

Self service ATM software.(Special features: ATM buyers marketplace)(Automated Teller Machine)
January 31, 2004... BY THE LATE 1990S VIRTUALLY all of financial institutions in North American, Europe and parts of Asia Pacific were running their ATM networks on IBM's OS/2 operating system. Within this environment the ATM vendor's platform sat on top of...

Behind the screens.(News)
January 31, 2004... Former RBA governor Bernie Fraser made a excellent point when he said bank boards needed people who understood complex derivative products, such as currency options. Welt, what better candidate than former Sydney Futures Exchange chief...

Broker numbers on the rise.(News)
January 31, 2004... THE NUMBER OF MORTGAGE brokers joining the Mortgage Industry Association of Australia's [MIAA) accreditation scheme increased by 80% last year. At January 1, 2003, there were 2500 Accredited Mortgage Consultants (AMCs] registered with the...

Capital gains.
January 31, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Oh, that's our board of directors."