Australian Banking & Finance articles from July 2002

Australian Banking & Finance archives from July 2002

St. George sets goals.(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... JULY 1 CAME AND WENT WITHOUT GREAT FANFARE FOR St George Bank. The mainstream media got more excited than the average St George employee, speculating furiously about what might happen to the happy Dragon now that it is no longer takeover...

We're no 2 in the world.(Australian banks rank second in terms of return on equity)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... Australian banks have the second highest return on equity in the world after posting a combined record $5.4 billion in profits for the March half year, thanks to a "resilient local environment and the quality of senior management". A STUDY...

IAG looks at link with Japanese car insurer. (Current Account).(Insurance Australia Group, Aioi Insurance Co.)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP IS in talks with Aioi Insurance Co, Japan's fifth-largest casualty insurer, to extend its auto insurance business. Australia's biggest auto and home insurer aims to double income in five years by selling more...

Industry welcomes new accounting standards. (Current Account).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL services sector overwhelming supports greater harmonisation with international accounting standards and the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) proposal to treat employee share options as an expense, a new...

ING lifts effort in funds management market. (Current Account).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... ING, UBS AG AND RIVALS ARE intensifying efforts to grab a bigger slice of Australia's $689 billion managed funds market, which is set to surge because of an increase in retirement savings. Compulsory employer payments to pensions rose to 9...

Local companies increase raisings. (Current Account).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 17, 2002... THE AUSTRALIAN SHAREMARKET remained a rich source of equity funds for Australian companies in 2001-02 despite a general, decline in share prices and battered investor confidence. Australian companies raised a total, of $25.1 billion through...

Deutsche topples NAB as premier bond seller. (Current Account).(Deutsche Bank AG, National Australia Bank)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... DEUTSCHE BANK AG OUSTED National Australia Bank as the leading arranger of bond sates in Australia in the first half of 2002, as financial companies and banks sold the most debt. Europe's biggest bank, National Australia and UBS Warburg AG,...

MasterCard keen on employee scheme. (Current Account).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... MASTERCARD IS KEEN TO BECOME involved in a new form of voluntary employee benefit aimed at helping consumers better manage their finances. The service called "Clear" (which has been initially launched in the US) provides employees with an...

Banking world. (Current Account).(Goldman Sachs controls 39% of merger and acquisition work in Asia outside of Japan)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO Henry M. Paulson was this month buoyed by news his investment bank was the busiest in merger and acquisition (M&A) work in Asia outside of Japan in the second quarter of 2002. But the bank had to battle its way to...

On the record.
July 17, 2002... "We recognised the day as a landmark for us... that we're moving into the next stage of our journey." ST GEORGE CEO GAIL KELLY ON THE JULY 1 EXPIRY OF ITS ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION WHICH HAD MADE IT TAKEOVER PROOF. "Competition policy...

Hawker's five-year game plan: Michael Hawker's "new look" IAG has big plans over the next five years to be the largest general insurer in Australia and New Zealand. (News).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... SINCE THE DEMUTUALISATION OF NRMA with its insurance arm in 2000, IAG (formerly NRMA Insurance) has seen a tot of changes. These changes include the listing on the ASX last year, the dismissal of some of its management team, the demise of...

Bank Qld revamps image to win custom. (News).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... AFTER 30 YEARS WITH THE SAME LOGO, BANK of Queensland has shed its old-fashioned image in a major push to win disenchanted big bank customers. Bank of Queensland unveiled a new logo and announced it was on the hunt for acquisitions to...

Politics the perfect grounding for De Salis: in the third of a series on the top women in financial services, Sarah Jones profiles Anne De Salis. (Top Women In Financial Services).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... UNLIKE MANY EXECUTIVES HER age, Anne De Salis, director of AMP Direct and AMP Financial Services entered the workforce in her early 30s. She married young, raised children, and rather than taking on full-time work turned to education to...

Bendigo boosts funds capacity. (News).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... BENDIGO BANK HAS BOOSTED its enhanced funds management capability with the issue of its first Bendigo Managed Funds prospectus, which consists of a range of diversified and Australian equity funds. Bendigo managing director Rob Hunt said...

Wealth managers fail on technology. (News).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... SOME WEALTH MANAGEMENT organisations are not using technology as effectively as they should, but improvements are likely, according to the latest World Wealth Report published by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Merrill Lynch. Private banking...

2IC. (News).(Nicholas Moore of Macquarie Bank)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... In a regular series identifying the executives most likely to be the next breed of CEOs of financial institutions in Australia, Australian Banking & Finance profiles Nicholas Moore of Macquarie Bank. Nicholas Moore is the head of the...

The new online wealth creation cycle. (News).(getting customers to online banks)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... HOW DOES AN INTERNATIONAL bank, with little retail exposure, successfully grow its online audience by more 750 percent within a few months? By teaming up with another internationally recognised brand in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods...

Measuring a complex brand experience: in December last year, four banks held their AGMs. In the same week, the communication research and advisory firm, Henderson Parker also released The Bank Account, an independent study into how customers perceived their banking experience and how this compared to what they might expect of an ideal bank. (the bank account).
July 17, 2002... AT THE TIME THE REPORT WAS released it was met with predictable expressions of denial, and attempts were made by some within the mainstream banking industry to discredit the findings and the methodology. Little public comment from the banks...

Storage pressures building: the banking and finance sector is becoming one of the fastest adopters of comprehensive data storage technology, spurred by the recent frequency of amalgamations and the ubiquitous demand for improved customer service. (Special Feature--Storage and Data Warehousing).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS have typified the banking and finance sector in recent years, as organisations seek profitability in a less secure and increasingly competitive environment. A common by-product, however, is a complex and...

Consolidation guarantees rapid returns. (Special Feature--Storage and Data Warehousing).(banking industry)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... CIOS SEEKING TO REDUCE infrastructure operational costs are looking at server and storage consolidation projects with interest, beyond the vendor hype. Storage consolidation in particular, promises rapid return on investments and avoids...

Getting the best return from your information. (Special Feature--Storage and Data Warehousing).(financial services industry)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... IN THE COMPLEX WORLD OF banking, finance and insurance, new challenges such as e-banking, mergers, government regulations and increased customer demands are constantly arising. Whether an organisation is working to improve financial...

Veritas software: leading the way in storage software solutions. (Special Feature--Storage and Data Warehousing).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... VERITAS SOFTWARE CORPORATION is the leading provider of storage management software for data protection, application availability, and disaster recovery. "Your data and systems represent your business," says Nike Slack, national. sales manager...

St George is really playing the loyalty game. (behind the screens).(St. George Bank Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... St George is really playing the loyalty game, just in case it is on the receiving end of a bid now that its takeover-proof articles have expired. The bank has adorned its branches in red and white streamers and signs declaring: "St George,...

Nicholas Moore, head of investment banking at Macquarie. (behind the screens).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... Nicholas Moore, head of investment banking at Macquarie, got a slight wack on the backside from his CEO after his dismissive comments about radio megastar Allan Jones in the wake of the $5 billion plus Sydney Airports deal. He is not the first...

"It's a miracle", the headline screamed in one Melbourne newspaper. (behind the screens).(ANZ Bank Ltd. opens new bank branch)(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... "It's a miracle", the headline screamed in one Melbourne newspaper. Well, not quite but ANZ did move against the industry trend on July 1 by opening a new bank branch in the regional Victorian town of Koroit. It is the first new rural branch...

Staff at Newcastle Permanent Building Society will soon farewell chief executive Howard Frith. (behind the screens).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... Staff at Newcastle Permanent Building Society will soon farewell chief executive Howard Frith, who is retiring after 43 years with "The Perm". The popular Frith will be replaced on August 9 by John Hickey. Hickey has been the head of mortgage...

The headcount among National Australia's Group's senior executives gets smaller as each week passes. (behind the screens).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... The headcount among National Australia's Group's senior executives gets smaller as each week passes. The latest departures are cards chief George Beatty and head of payments Peter Thomas, both apparently regarded highly by the market. "What the...

The customer is always right and you should always bow to their wishes if you want to retain business. (behind the screens).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... The customer is always right and you should always bow to their wishes if you want to retain business. Right? It sure is if you are a group called Mercury Interactive. Mercury started ranking the web sites of the banks for this publication two...

An anti-fraud Internet site that just launched a service allowing consumers to find out if their credit card numbers have been stolen proved so popular in its first several days of operation that its server went down. (behind the screens).(CardCops )(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... An anti-fraud Internet site that just launched a service allowing consumers to find out if their credit card numbers have been stolen proved so popular in its first several days of operation that its server went down. The CardCops site compiled...

GST and borrowers legal fees. (News).(Brief Article)
July 17, 2002... WHEN THE PREPARATION OF legal documents or other activities in connection with the making of a loan are outsourced, the supplier charges 10% GST in addition to the base cost. Borrowers ordinarily cannot obtain an input tax credit for...

Global banking in crisis: the collapse of WorldCom has increased fears the world banking sector could be approaching a crisis which would force a major wave of mergers.(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... WORLDCOM'S BANKRUPTCY FILING heaped misery on the American and European bank sector, adding to the suffering banks have endured due to accounting blowups and equity market losses. In Europe, the WorldCom filing capped weeks of rescue talks...

ACCC must be accountable.(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... THE BANKING INDUSTRY HAS called for transparency, accountability and certainty in the Trade Practices Act and in its administration by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) is...

NAB caught in squeeze play.(National Australia Bank acquisition in jeopardy)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 31, 2002... NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK IS caught in a bind. Australia's largest bank, rumoured for the past month to be in merger talks with Abbey National Plc, has the might to make a big buy at home or in its target offshore market, Britain, but...

AMP searches for UK life distributor. (Current Account).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... AMP IS KEEN ON A DISTRIBUTION tie-up with a UK bank to boost its position in Britain's life assurance sector. "We'd love to have a bank distribution deal," said Tom Fraser, financial services managing director of AMP UK. He declined to...

Banking world. (Current Account).(Citigroup shares fall due to Enron exposure)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 31, 2002... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Citigroup Inc shares have plunged this month as WorldCom Inc's bankruptcy added to concerns that the bank is at risk from Enron Corp.-related lawsuits and congressional probes. In one day the shares fell 11...

Bluestone secures deal with BankWest. (Current Account).(to provide loans for customers who do not fit usual lending criteria)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... SPECIALIST LENDER BLUESTONE Mortgages has signed an agreement with expanding BankWest, to provide loans to customers who don't fit the bank's usual lending criteria. Bluestone specialise in home loan products for borrowers who are recently...

HSBC to expand cash management. (Current Account).(launches new International Cash Management Account)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... HSBC BANK AUSTRALIA aims to aggressively expand its deposit book with the launch of a new International Cash Management Account offering a highly competitive interest rate and the flexibility of international. access. The International...

AIMS to take on Chinese loan market. (Current Account).(AIMS Home Loans)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 31, 2002... AIMS HOME LOANS IS SET TO enter the Chinese residential mortgage market, following the results of a three year feasibility and market research study. The announcement was made at the same time as AIMS Home Loans launched a $580 million...

NAB to save $110m on telecoms services. (Current Account).(National Australia Bank)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK expects to save around $110 million over five years by outsourcing its Australian and New Zealand telecommunications services to Telstra. "The five-year contract covers the transition of employees, assets and third...

On the record. (Current Account).
July 31, 2002... "In the short term, it is clear that the markets are very, very bad... I think we've seen the end of 10 very good years in equities markets." THE GLOBAL HEAD OF THE AXA HENRI DE CASTRIES, OFFERING A BLEAK ASSESSMENT OF WORLD EQUITIES...

Westpac first with social report. (News).(Social Impact Report)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... IN A CLIMATE OF GROWING mistrust of corporate ethics and business practices, and the run of recent corporate frauds and mismanagement, Westpac has released its first Social Impact Report. The report provides extensive detail on Westpac's...

ANZ franchises branches in NZ. (News).(to give managers more freedom in day-to-day operations)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... THE NEW ZEALAND ARM OF ANZ Banking Group plans to "shadow franchise" two-thirds of its branches to give managers more freedom in day-to-day operations. The bank said that under the scheme, part of a project across the group, 23 chief...

New system to tackle card fraud. (News).(TransTrack to automate dispute resolution, cut fraud)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... A NEW AUTOMATED SYSTEM IS SET to revolutionise card disputes and help tackle payment card fraud. TransTrack, developed in conjunction with the major UK card acquiring banks and retailers, will for the first time, automate the dispute...

The high price of high net worth customers. (the bank account).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... MY PREVIOUS ARTICLE CONCLUDED with questions suggesting that geo-demographic factors needed to be well understood if a bank, or any broad-based consumer business, was going to develop effective brand building strategies. In The Bank...

National opens new finance services centre. (News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 31, 2002... THE NATIONAL HAS OPENED A new flagship financial, service centre that provides customers in the inner west area of Sydney every financial need under the one roof. Executive general manager of financial services Australia Ian MacDonald said...

The critical question. (News).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... Q: What do banks need to do to improve their image with the public? "For a start, banks need to move beyond the term `image'--it's too limiting. The real task is centred around a bank's reputation. Advertising can drive `image'...

Basel timescale lengthens. (News).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... Financial institutions are getting increasingly concerned about the timetable for Basel II. What started off as an implementation date of 2004 now seems to have slipped two or even three years. KPMG's John Somerville, a Partner in KPMG's Risk...

Cultural fit--the new executive measure. (executive suite).(values of potential CEOs and board members become issue)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... THE VALUES OF OUR CORPORATE Leaders are under the spotlight once again, with Xerox recently admitting to inflated sales figures and the impending bankruptcy of WorldCom, the telecommunications giant facing serious fraud charges. On the...

Building profits via alliances. (News).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... MORTGAGE LENDING HAS BEEN A huge driver of balance sheet growth and profitability for many of Australia's smaller financial institutions in recent times, particularly the regional banks, building societies and credit unions. With interest...

Should share payments be treated as expenses? (human capital).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... HOW DOES YOUR ORGANISATION account for share options? The answer for most Australian companies is that options have no impact on reported earnings (Australian accounting rules only require disclosure of share-based remuneration). However,...

Plot your route to success. (examining the customer).(relationship marketing )(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... IN TODAY'S COMPLEX WORLD OF relationship marketing there are three principal parties in every relationship. Firstly the company; secondly its employees or channel partners and thirdly the ultimate customer for the goods or services. The...

Credit union comment. (News).(consumer groups calling for regulation of bank fees and service standards)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
July 31, 2002... MUCH HAS RECENTLY BEEN said about competition and choice in retail banking. But are all the pieces in place to ensure Australians enjoy real choice? Or do they remain padlocked to their existing bank? The RBA's most recent survey revealed...

Hitching your wagon to the online transactor. (the Nielsen/netRatings report).(slowdown in Internet usage in Australia)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 31, 2002... FROM THE INFORMATION Superhighway to a legitimate online market, the Internet has undergone numerous permutations--from ecstatic highs to sobering share market disdain. In the 12 months between June 01 and June 02, however, the Internet in...

Diebold establishes managed services unit. (New Economy Banker).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... DIEBOLD, A LEADING PROVIDER OF self-service applications, has established a managed services unit within its Australia and New Zealand operations. Managed Services is a service offered to financial and non-financial institutions to assist...

Focusing on the user experience. (New Economy Banker).(winning sought-after online transactions)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2002... FLAWED NAVIGATION AND customer service frustrate today's Web banking users, but low-cost design fixes and an ongoing focus on user experience will help firms win sought-after online transactions, according to a report by Forrester Research. ...

Special feature--CIO register.
July 31, 2002... The role of the chief information officer--or head of information technology--is absolutely critical to the future positioning of Australia's financial services companies. There is no other industry changing faster than financial services...

What is a lender's responsibility? (News).
July 31, 2002... IMAGINE THE FOLLOWING scenario. A loan broker finds a financial institution which agrees to lend $80,000 to a customer who is described as a partner in a restaurant/bar business. The lender advances the loan which is secured by a mortgage...

Behind the screens. (News).
July 31, 2002... It would appear that CBA chief David Murray has tightened the apron strings by restructuring his technology division and squeezing out his head of technology Russell Scrimshaw in the process. The bank maintains the restructure "was in the...

Spell out risks when selling. (News).
July 31, 2002... ON A RECENT TRIP TO THE UNITED Kingdom, a couple of matters attracted my attention, both of which have relevance to Australia. The first was the continued high profile and negative press associated with financial institutions mis-selling...