Australian Banking & Finance articles from July 2003

Australian Banking & Finance archives from July 2003

Private banks fail clientele.
July 15, 2003... MANY PRIVATE BANKERS ARE spending too much time on internal administration and are falling to provide their clients with excellent service. According to research conducted by Reuters and Booz Allen Hamilton, private bankers only spend...

Mulcahy acts to gain synergies at Suncorp; Suncorp Metway managing director John Mulcahy is under pressure to gain full value from the group's four main operating arms.
July 15, 2003... Six months into his tenure atop Suncorp Metway John Mulcahy has concluded that it's time to refocus. "Of recent times, after we took over GIO, we got a little bit lost and a bit confused because we got bigger and a bit more complex," he...

HSBC strengthens personal finance. (Current Account).(appoints Rahn Wood and George Beatty)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... HSBC HAS EXPANDED ITS personal financial services senior management team with the creation of two new roles which will report to Kevin Martin, head of the division. Rahn Wood has been appointed head of direct financial services and will be...

ANZ's "all in one" card statement. (Current Account).(Air New Zealand Ltd. Qantas ANZ Visa Card statement )(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... ANZ HAS INTRODUCED A NEW all-in-one statement for Qantas ANZ Visa Card customers. Customers will receive one monthly Qantas ANZ Visa Card statement listing their monthly transactions and details of Qantas Frequent Flyer points earned. ...

Banking world. (Current Account).(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... Nicole Saint of Denver, Colorado, uses a Compass Bank ATM, a participant in the Star Systems Inc network. Star is owned by Concord EFS Inc First Data Corp, the world's biggest credit card processor and parent of the Western Union money-transfer...

Macquarie expands into Taiwan funds. (Current Account).(Macquarie Funds Management Group buys United Securities Investment Trust Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... MACQUARIE BANK'S FUNDS management group has expanded its operations into the Taiwan funds management market by acquiring a 40% stake in United Securities Investment Trust Corp, a mid-sized Taiwanese fund manager, for an undisclosed amount. ...

On the record. (Current Account).(John Mulachy, Greame Samuel and Michael Hawker quoted.)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... "We are getting back to basics to make sure that our underlying businesses are really producing the results the market is expecting--both for customers and investors." SUNCORP METWAY MANAGING DIRECTOR JOHN MULCAHY. "I will be clearly...

St Andrews finds the right niche. (Current Account).(St Andrews Insurance)
July 15, 2003... NICHE INSURER ST ANDREWS Insurance has created a name for itself since entering the local market six years ago. It has formed key alliances with groups such as Promina and seen its customer base grow from zero to include institutions like...

Financial institutions urged to manage laundering risks. (News).
July 15, 2003... AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL institutions are studying a fresh set of recommendations for combating money laundering. After 18 months of extensive review and consultation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has announced revisions to its Forty...

Finance companies work hard to maintain growth; Australia's finance company sector enjoyed a generally sound financial performance during 2002 with operating profit after tax increasing by 7.6% to $368 million. (News).
July 15, 2003... The sector, comprising a diverse range of niche prayers, actively pursued a non-interest income strategy over the past year, resulting in an increase in non-income income of 9%. Peter Nash, head of KPMG's financial, services group, said...

Mutuality the key to prosperity. (Special report: building societies & credit unions).
July 15, 2003... WHILE AUSTRALIA'S CREDIT UNIONS and building societies appear to have a bright future on the financial services landscape, they still face an uphill battle as the industry becomes increasingly competitive, regulations continue to tighten,...

Competition to reduce share of home market: building societies and credit unions continue to maintain their position in the financial services sector after reporting a rise in operating profit after tax for 2002. (Special report: building societies & credit unions).
July 15, 2003... Building societies reported a profit increase of 16.79% while credit unions reported a profit increase of 12.22%, on a normalised basis. The strong housing market provided much of the impetus for the growth positively impacting interest...

Getting the pricing right. (Special report: building societies & credit unions).(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... IT IS ALMOST ROUTINE to say financial services organisations are going through great change. The credit unions though, continue to offer friendly customer service to the local community, personal service, the winning smile and the low fee...

Becoming a customer-centric enterprise. (Future Leaders & New Directions Series).
July 15, 2003... AS A RESULT OF THE TREMENdous changes that have reshaped Australia's financial services industry over the last decade, industry leaders rocognise that business success can no longer be separated from technology requirements. To compete...

Bugbear virus may affect credit cards. (News).(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... THE WIDELY SPREADING Bugbear-B virus contains a "key-stroke logger" which allows confidential information--such as passwords and credit card details--to be stolen from infected PCs. When users who have been hit by the virus log onto...

Banks want to sell homes. (News).(banks seek permission to get into the real estate business)(Brief Article)
July 15, 2003... AN INTRIGUING BATTLE IS underway in the US between banks and real estate agents over whether banks will be permitted to sell real estate. AP reports the American Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors have matched each...

Harley focuses on the service experience; in the first of a four-part series on executives on the rise, we profile Hugh Harley from the Commonwealth Bank. (Future Leaders & New Directions Series).
July 15, 2003... Hugh Harley is one of the new breed of executives occupying senior positions within the financial services industry. At only 41, Harley is in charge of retail, banking at the Commonwealth Bank, a position he secured last October and one...

Behind the screens. (News).(briefs on General Electric Co., law firm Dibbs Barker Gosling, and Commonwealth Bank )
July 15, 2003... THE FORMER CEO OF GENERAL Electric Jack Welch attracted some of the big names in banking and finance at a Sydney Luncheon recently. Westpac CEO David Morgan, CBA chairman John Ralph and RBA board member Dick Warburton were but a few. Morgan...

Aussie bonds second best in the world. (News).
July 15, 2003... AUSTRALIAN BONDS WERE THE second-best performing in the world in the first half of the year as the local currency's gains lured investors to 10-year debt that yields a third more than US Treasuries. Faster economic growth than in the US and...

Regionals face lending squeeze: Australia's regional bank sector will be challenged to generate lending growth at the levels experienced in the past two years, and balance-sheet growth and financial performance will be closely tied to conditions in the property lending market, according to Standard & Poor's credit analyst Peter Sikora. (Insurance Accolades Voting Coupon: P5).
July 31, 2003... The strong recent profit performance of Australia's regional bank sector has been clearly underpinned by Australia's booming housing sector, which has historically and traditionally been the cornerstone of regional bank franchises. Home...

Market concerned Cicutto not playing the right ball: as a teenage messenger for National Australia Bank, Italian-born Frank Cicutto attended night school and spent weekends trying to master cricket, the national sport of his adopted homeland. (Insurance Accolades Voting Coupon: P5).
July 31, 2003... The son of a concrete layer in Sydney's working-class suburb of Bankstown, Cicutto got rewarded on both counts. After receiving a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of NSW in 1971, promotions lifted him from National...

Bank of Queensland selects ATM software. (Current Account).(APTRA Edge)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... BANK OF QUEENSLAND IS THE first financial institution in Australia and New Zealand to select NCR Corp's APTRA(tm) Edge open multi-vendor software applications to run its network of 120 Diebold ATMs. NCR says APTRA Edge has already proved...

Suncorp, ABN in trade agreement. (Current Account).(Suncorp-Metway Ltd. and ABN AMRO Bank N.V.)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... SUNCORP METWAY AND ABN AMRO have signed an international trade finance outsourcing agreement that gives Suncorp access to ABN's global trade network. With more than 175 years experience in international trade finance, ABN AMRO will process...

Business loans tipped to rebound sharply. (Current Account).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... SIGNALLING MORE GROWTH FOR Australian banks canny enough to woo the small end of town, business confidence levels have fractured with smaller firms more optimistic on expansion plans than their larger counterparts. The third quarterly...

On the record. (Current Account).(David Morgan, Sandra L. Devine and Mary Prince said)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... "The length and the strength of this housing boom has gone further than certainly even I expected, but we are going to start seeing signs that it has run its course." WESTPAC CHIEF EXECUTIVE DAVID MORGAN. "To compete successfully today...

Security and privacy threats. (Current Account).
July 31, 2003... REMEMBER WHEN "CORPORATE security" meant posting a security guard in the lobby? Those days are well behind us--or are they? The rise of e-business and greater awareness of security issues has changed the face of security forever. ...

ANZ tops Web list. (Current Account).(ANZ Bank Ltd. website gets most vistis)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... THE ANTICIPATION OF potentially lower interest rates within Australia, initiated by the drop in US rates last month, may have contributed to a greater focus on business and finance sites last month. Most of the major banking sites showed an...

Prince has big shoes to fill as Citigroup CEO. (News).(Charles Prince will suceed Sanford Weill)
July 31, 2003... CHARLES PRINCE WORKS OUT, drives snowmobiles and even diets with Sanford Weill, his mentor of 17 years, who told investors this month that Prince will succeed him as chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc. Prince bought a $4.5 million,...

Wealth managers warned over growth expectations. (News).
July 31, 2003... AUSTRALIAN BANKS HAVE spent billions of dollars acquiring wealth management businesses believing they will outperform the market. But the sad truth is that most won't. A PricewaterhouseCoopers suvey found that the Asia-Pacific region offers...

Q: what is the outlook for the insurance industry in the next 12 months? (Viewpoint: four respected industry figures have their say).(Tony Johnson, Kate Thomson, John Van Der Wielen, Michael Hawker)
July 31, 2003... Tony Johnson, head of Ernst & Young's financial services practice "The outlook for the next 12 months for both the life and non-life insurance industries is solid, although the performance of investment markets will be a key driver of the...

Banks study new enterprise solutions. (News).
July 31, 2003... SUCCESSFUL CUSTOMER relationship management continues to be one of a banker's main goals. The concept is simple, to deploy in depth and up-to-date information about a customer at every point where the customer can contact the bank. ...

Efficiency the top concern. (News).(for financial services executives)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... RESPONDING TO MARKET pressures to increase profitability, the majority of the world's top financial institutions nominate operational efficiency as their No 1 concern going forward. Eighty-eight per cent of financial services executives say...

Tokens offer online security solution. (News).(online banking customers use tokens that generate passwords which can be used only once )
July 31, 2003... ONLINE BANKING SECURITY--What is it worth? If bank security is critical to customer trust then ask yourself this question "Why does the bank give me a security device (ATM card) so I can withdraw $20 from an ATM yet I can transfer $5000...

Brokers grapple with regulation. (Special Feature--Mortgage Brokers).
July 31, 2003... REGULATORY ISSUES CONTINUE to plague the mortgage broking industry as key players lobby the Federal Government for a nationwide regulation framework. Tony Harris, founder and director of The Money Store, said the government was "shirking"...

Internet mortgages on the way. (Special Feature--Mortgage Brokers).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... WHEN A BIG INTERNET LOAN seller rolled out new "portable mortgages" recently, mortgage industry insiders muttered and marveled: had the age of electronic mortgages really arrived? Sceptics say not yet, but the tantalising prospect of not...

PMI releases new product. (Special Feature--Mortgage Brokers).(PMI Mortgage Insurance Australia offers pmiGold)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... AUSTRALIA'S LEADING MORTGAGE insurer PMI Mortgage Insurance recently announced a new lenders mortgage insurance product in response to increases in property prices. PMI managing director Ian Graham says pmiGold will cover Lenders for loan...

RMBS--as safe as houses. (Special Feature--Mortgage Brokers).(residential mortgage backed securities )
July 31, 2003... THERE HAS BEEN INCREASING media speculation in recent months about the imminent crash of property prices in Australia--the bursting of the so-called housing bubble. This has all been good headline-grabbing stuff. However on closer...

JP Morgan's latest quarterly banking survey reveals some fascinating things about the personal finance habits of the chief financial officers of the top 500 corporates. (behind the scenes).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... JP MORGAN'S LATEST QUARTERLY banking survey reveals some fascinating things about the personal finance habits of the chief financial, officers of the top 500 corporates. The firm's banking analyst Brian Johnson told ABC TV the survey discovered...

ANZ Bank IT Chief David Boyles, who will retire at the end of the year. (behind the screens).(goes to Integrated Research Inc., Sydney)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... ANZ BANK IT CHIEF DAVID BOYLES, who will retire at the end of the year, has agreed to become a non-executive director of Integrated Research, a Sydney-based software developer.

Another interesting move has seen former Westpac chief executive and now dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, Bob Joss, join the board of the New York listed Agilent Technologies Inc. (behind the screens).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... ANOTHER INTERESTING MOVE has seen former Westpac chief executive and now dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, Bob Joss, join the board of the New York listed Agilent Technologies Inc. While at Westpac, Joss was...

Big Kev might be excited but so too is big Aussie . (behind the screens).(John Symond signes a deal with Kaz Group)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... BIG KEV MIGHT BE EXCITED BUT so too is big Aussie John Symond. The man who brought competition to the home loan industry more than a decade ago has just signed a five-year deal with local supplier Kaz Group to outsource the management of its...

While on home lenders, one of Symond's key competitors Wizard's Mark Bouris is also jumping up and down about an equity finance loan product he wants to introduce within a year. (behind the screens).(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... WHILE ON HOME LENDERS, ONE of Symond's key competitors Wizard's Mark Bouris is also jumping up and down about an equity finance loan product he wants to introduce within a year. The product would see home buyers pay 70 per cent of the usual...

Community branches reach 100. (News).(Bendigo Bank Ltd. opened 100th community bank branch)(Brief Article)
July 31, 2003... AUSTRALIA'S 100TH COMMUNITY bank branch of Bendigo Bank opened this month. As the Victorian coastal community of San Remo celebrated the opening, Australia's first locally owned community bank company, Rupanyup/Minyip in the Victorian...