Australian Banking & Finance articles from July 2006

Australian Banking & Finance archives from July 2006

ASX/FSE merger turmoil averted--D'Aloisio dumped for Elstone: a major saga was played out in Sydney last week, with ASX chief executive Tony D'Aloisio sacrificed.
July 15, 2006... The proposed $5.3 billion merger between the Australian Stock Exchange Ltd and the Sydney Futures Exchange is still on. But it took a dramatic series of events--including the replacement of ASX head Tony D'Alosio by SFE boss Robert Elstone as...

Visa embraces new technology: from prepaid to smart cards. Visa is determined to lead the way in credit card technology.(NEWS)
July 15, 2006... Visa International has announced initiatives that will see it introducing technological advances to the Australian card market over the next 12 months. Such advances include prepaid cards and 'smart' chip cards, including the contact less Visa...

Cautious optimism for the insurance sector in 2006/07: the Australian insurance industry appears to be enjoying healthy profits, low claims and an improving investment environment. So are there any dark clouds on the horizon?(NEWS)
July 15, 2006... According to Kim Smith, Australian Insurance Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Australian insurance industry in the 2005 financial year enjoyed a positive turnaround in terms of profitability and capital strength. "The general...

The top 50 people in Australian Insurance: senior executives from QBE, IAG and AMP feature in Australian Banking & Finance magazine's top insurers list.(SPECIAL FEATURE: TOP 50 INSURERS IN AUSTRALIA)
July 15, 2006... Our directory of Australia's most influential people in insurance features the industry's most prominent chief executives, financial officers, information officers and others. Heading the general insurers category is Frank O'Halloran, QBE's...

Competition heats up over low-rate credit cards: the battle for the Australian credit card market is maintaining its intensity in line with changes to the product mix.
July 15, 2006... According to figures from BayCorp Advantage, the first quarter of 2006 saw more than a million credit card applications in Australia, a 26.9 percent increase on the previous year. It's no coincidence that such an increase coincides with the...

Banks get serious about ATM security: as threats to ATMs increase, banks in Australia and New Zealand successfully boosting their protection measures.(SPECIAL PROMOTION)
July 15, 2006... The ATM channel accounts for up to 80 percent of consumers' banking transactions. So security threats--from ram raids and card skimming to the introduction of unauthorised code from any source--are now being addressed more seriously than ever....

Call for nominations: Insurance Awards.(NEWS)
July 15, 2006... The annual Insurance Awards are up and running for the fourth year and Australian Banking & Finance magazine is calling for nominations in all categories. The Insurance Awards, which recognise the achievements of individuals and companies...

Macquarie the big winner at 2006 Awards.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... Three Australian Banking & Finance Awards have gone to Macquarie Bank this year, while NAB, St. George Bank and ING Direct are also multiple winners. Macquarie Bank has enjoyed outstanding success at this year's Australian Banking &...

Allan Moss our top Banker.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST FINANCIAL SERVICES EXECUTIVE Allan Moss NOMINEES: Gall Kelly, St George E David Liddy, Bank of Queensland John McFarlane, ANZ Les Matheson; Citigroup David Morgan, Westpac Allan Moss, Macquarie Bank ...

2006 is Macquarie's year!.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST NATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION Macquarie Bank NOMINEES: AMP ANZ Commonwealth Bank of Australia Macquarie Bank NAB St George Bank St Suncorp Metway Westpac The Financial Institution of the...

RAMS still offers an alternative!(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST NON-BANK FINANCIAL INSTITUTION RAMS NOMINEES: AMP Aussie GE Money IAG RAMS Resi Mortgage Corp Virgin Money Wizard After a decade of impressive growth, the Best Non-Bank Financial...

Ullmer's impeccable record.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Michael Ullmer NAB NOMINEES: Michael Cameron, CBA Phil Coffey Westpac Robert Hines Bank of Qld Peter Marriott Steve McKerihan, St Chris Skilton, Suncorp Metway Michael...

ANZ means business in 2006.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST BUSINESS BANK ANZ NOMINEES: ANZ Commonwealth Bank of Australia NAB St George Bank Westpac ANZ is quickly becoming the bank of choice for an increasing number of Australian business owners and financial...

HSBC's Australian focus.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST FOREIGN BANK HSBC NOMINEES: ABN AMRO Citigroup Deutsche Bank HSBC ING Direct Rabobank Rothschild UBS With extensive global resources, HSBC in Australia is well placed to meet the local...

A site that offers simple online money management.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)(Brief article)
July 30, 2006... BEST WEBSITE ING Direct NOMINEES: This category was a 'write in' category whereby readers were asked to make their own nominations. It's not easy for a financial services provider to create a website that is easy-to-use,...

Macquarie's triple treat.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST INVESTMENT BANK Macquarie Bank NOMINEES: ABN AMRO Babcock & Brown Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs JB Were Investec JPMorgan Macquarie Bank Merill Lynch UBS Macquarie Bank has scored a...

Tredenick is an asset for NAB.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST CIO / eBANKER Michelle Tredenick NAB NOMINEES: Hemant Kogekar, Suncorp Metway Jennifer Heffernan, Bank of Queensland John Loebenstein St George Bank Simon McNamara, Westpac Nigel Smyth,...

Suncrop Metway's progress continues.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST REGIONAL BANK Suncorp Metway NOMINEES: Adelaide Bank, Bank of Queensland BankWest Bendigo Bank Suncorp Metway Queensland's biggest corporation just keeps growing, both as a bank and as an integrated...

ING Direct is TV star.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST BANKING & FINANCE PROMOTION 'Bracelet Ad' ING Direct NOMINEES: This category was a 'write in' category whereby readers were asked to make their own nominations. A smart television commercial has served ING Direct well in...

No deposit required.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST NEW PRODUCT No Deposit Loan St George NOMINEES: Reverse Charges Account, Bank of Queensland Our Community Account, Bendigo Bank Bendigo RSPCA Rescue VISA Card CareCredit, GE Money No Deposit Loan, St George...

Aussie: a mortgage broking success story.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST MORTGAGE BROKER Aussie Home Loans NOMINEES: Aussie Home Loans Choice Home Loans City Pacific Finance LJ Hooker Financial Services Mortgage Choice The Mortgage Bureau The Aussie Group's 2002 move...

CUA still the best credit union.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST CREDIT UNION Credit Union Australia NOMINEES: CPS Credit Union (SA) Credit Union Australia Gateway Credit Union Police & Nurses Credit Society mecu Following a successful merger with the Australian National Credit Union,...

Heritage continues to prosper.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... BEST BUILDING SOCIETY Heritage Building Society NOMINEES: Heritage Building Society Home Building Society IMB Building Society Newscastle Permanent The Rock Building Society Wide Bay Australia The Best...

Gail Kelly: now a hall of famer.(2006 AUSTRALIAN BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS)
July 30, 2006... HALL OF FAME Gail Kelly St. George Bank's Gall Kelly follows in the footsteps of some legendary financial services executives--including Don Argus, Bernie Fraser and David Murray--with her induction into the Australian Banking &...

Getting to the top of the attack lifecycle: intelligence vs technology.(SPECIAL FEATURE: ONLINE BANKING SECURITY SOLUTIONS)
July 30, 2006... According to Harvard and UC Berkeley research paper "Why Phishing Works" (1) 90 percent of people are fooled by good phishing sites. Researchers tested subjects on their ability to discern phishing websites from real websites, demonstrating...

HSBC, Citigroup stymied as Chinese shun card debt in middle kingdom.(SPECIAL FEATURE: ONLINE BANKING SECURITY SOLUTIONS)
July 30, 2006... Chinese consumers love their credit cards, but their habit of paying off each month's debt is proving troublesome to foreign banks who are hoping for a boom in unsecured lending. Catherine Xia racks up about 8,000 yuan ($996) a month,...

Banks to adopt new value credit cards to stifle critical financial card fraud.(SPECIAL FEATURE: ONLINE BANKING SECURITY SOLUTIONS)
July 30, 2006... Banks and merchants around the world are busily migrating their credit card transactional systems onto the EMV-chip based platform to lower their exposure to fraud. EMV technology, however, does also create opportunities for banks to initiate...

Reassuring customer.(NEWS)
July 30, 2006... Banks overseas are beginning to question whether automation and the associated cost cutting that goes with it is undermining the customer's trust in their organisation. Customer service initiatives are obviously primarily about keeping and...

Special message from Stategic Payments Services.
July 30, 2006... Strategic Payments Services Limited is proud to be associated with the Australian Banking and Finance Awards for the first time in 2006. The Company has been formed as a result of collaboration between Bendigo Bank Limited, Customers Limited...

Best Financial Services Executive 2006.(Brief article)
July 30, 2006... ALLAN MOSS MANAGING DIRECTOR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MACQUARIE BANK Allan Moss was appointed Deputy Managing Director of Macquarie Bank in 1989 and became Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in 1993. At that time,...

Best Financial Institution 2006.
July 30, 2006... MACQUARIE BANK Macquarie Bank is an outstanding provider of investment banking and financial services. In Australia and New Zealand, it provides a full range of investment, financial market and advisory products and services....

Best Business Bank 2006.
July 30, 2006... ANZ ANZ is one of the largest companies in Australia and New Zealand and is a major international banking and financial services group, ranking among the world's top 50 banks. Its world headquarters are located in Melbourne, where it...

Best Chief Financial Officer 2006.(Brief article)
July 30, 2006... MICHAEL ULLMER NAB Michael Ullmer was appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Director, Finance & Risk, of the National Australia Bank Group in August 2004. He is responsible for finance, risk, balance sheet management, investor...

Best Non-Bank Financial Institution 2006.(Brief article)
July 30, 2006... RAMS RAMS was one of the first non-bank lenders to enter the Australian market in 1995, following the deregulation of the mortgage market. It has since grown rapidly to become one of Australia's largest non-bank home loan providers,...

Best Regional Bank 2006.
July 30, 2006... SUNCORP METWAY In a century of operations in Queensland, Suncorp Metway has grown into an integrated financial services provider of strong banking, insurance and wealth management businesses. It is now one of Australia's top 25 companies...

Best Foreign Bank 2006.
July 30, 2006... HSBC Headquartered in London, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. It has some 9,500 offices and over 284,000 employees in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific...

Best Investment Bank 2006.
July 30, 2006... MACQUARIE BANK Macquarie's investment banking group brings together the bank's wholesale structuring, stockbroking, underwriting and advisory capabilities. The group provides a depth of service, including specialist capabilities in:...

Best Building Society 2006.
July 30, 2006... HERITAGE BUILDING SOCIETY Queensland's Heritage Building Society has won this award for five consecutive years now. It follows recent achievements that include favourable ratings from Standard & Poor's and from Moody's, plus a...

Best Credit Union 2006.
July 30, 2006... CREDIT UNION AUSTRALIA This is the fourth consecutive year that Credit Union Australia (CUA) has been given this award, which in 2002 was won by CUA's recent merger partner, the Australian National Credit Union. The credit union was...

Hall of Fame 2006.
July 30, 2006... GAIL KELLY ST GEORGE For three years in a row, from 2003 to 2005, Gail Kelly was voted as Australian Banking & Finance magazine's 'Best Financial Services Executive'. She now deservedly enters the Hall of Fame. Kelly was appointed as...

Best CIO/eBanker 2006.
July 30, 2006... MICHELLE TREDENICK NAB Michelle Tredenick was appointed as Chief Information Officer of the National Australia Bank in October 2004. Since her appointment, she has overseen the integration of the various technology operations into...

Best New Product 2006.
July 30, 2006... NO DEPOSIT LOAN ST GEORGE St. George Bank's No Deposit Loan is an innovative product that enables customers to borrow up to 100 percent of the purchase price of a new home while providing a full range of home loan features. It is...

Best Banking & Finance Promotion 2006.(Brief article)
July 30, 2006... BRACELET AD ING DIRECT ING Direct's 'Bracelet' television commercial features a young man presenting a diamond bracelet to a young woman. She thinks it's a little too expensive and disappoints the man by saying that they are both just...

Best Website 2006.
July 30, 2006... ING DIRECT ING Direct's website is both a transactional site for online banking and means of providing product/service information. It is also the main channel for product applications and it incorporates targeted web messages/banners. ...

Best Mortgage Broker 2006.
July 30, 2006... AUSSIE HOME LOANS Since its establishment in February 1992, the Aussie Group has grown to become Australia's largest non-bank lender, with operations spanning all mainland capital cities and major regional centres. The company is...