Australian Banking & Finance articles from June 2005

Australian Banking & Finance archives from June 2005

Panellists agree reducing costs is key IT driver: four key IT experts discussed the outlook for IT within the banking and financial services sector at our recent seminar held in Sydney. Major challenges debated included the implications for IT with the forthcoming changes to the superannuation legislation as well as the ongoing drive to decrease costs.
June 30, 2005... The panelists included Bob McKinnon, Group Executive Technology and Chief Executive Officer with the Commonwealth Bank; John Loebenstein, Group Executive, Information Technology with St George; Anne Myers, Chief Executive Officer of ING Direct,...

2005 Insurance Awards--voting process begins.
June 30, 2005... FRESH FROM THE OUTSTANDING SUCCESS OF the Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine Awards, preparations are now underway for the third annual Insurance Awards. A judging panel lead by Helen Nugent, director of Macquarie Bank, drew up a...

Westpac delivers record profit with cash earnings up 12%: Westpac Banking corporation recently announced a record operating profit after tax of $1,325 million, for the six months ended 31 March 2005, up 8 percent, and more importantly cash earnings increased 12 percent to $1,380 million.(NEWS)
June 30, 2005... Westpac CEO David Morgan said "Today's result shows Westpac is continuing to deliver strong growth and solid returns in a tougher trading environment. The strength of this result was shown in cash earnings per share growth of 12 percent, and...

Rabobank/Landmark business alliance to conclude.(NEWS)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN financier rabobank australia and rural services company Landmark is to be brought to a close, with Rabobank to no longer fund new Landmark loans from October 28 this year. Rabobank Australia & New Zealand CED Bruce Dick...

Big four struggle to match investment banks on corporate advisory to Top 500: the ability of Australia's Big Four banks to successfully provide the Top 500 Corporate segment with investment banking and advisory services is still very much a work in progress, East & Partners has found.(NEWS)
June 30, 2005... East's latest six monthly Corporate Customer Satisfaction Report, which researches the banking experiences of Australia's Top 500 companies, reveals the major domestic banks continue to significantly lag investment banks in areas such as Equity...

NAB stabilising business performance.(NEWS)(National Australia Bank )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... THE NATIONAL'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOHN STEWART SAID THE MARCH 2005 half year results show that earnings from our banking businesses are stabilising. "We have made good progress," Stewart said. "We have done what we said we would do. We have...

Your chance to vote in '05: the Insurance Awards, recognising the achievements of individuals and companies in the insurance sector, will be held in Sydney on July 28 2005.(Insurance Awards 2005)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... Award categories will include Best General Insurance Company, Best Life Insurance Company, Best Australian Insurance Executive, Best New Product (commercial lines and personal lines), Best Website, Best Promotion, Best Niche Insurer, Best...

Payments expert appointed to Customers' board.(Customers ltd appointed Greg Monaghan )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... CUSTOMERS LIMITED (ASX:CUS) ANNOUNCED RECENTLY THAT Greg Monaghan has been appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. In announcing the appointment Customers managing director, Greg Baker, who has been appointed chairman, said "the...

CBA announces CEO of Colonial First State Global Asset Management.(Commonwealth Bank of Australia)(chief executive officer )
June 30, 2005... THE COMMONWEALTH BANK RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THAT Warwick Negus has been appointed chief executive officer of Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFS GAM) and will formally take up this role on 1 June 2005. The formation of CFS GAM...

ANZ beefs up project finance business.(ANZ Investment Bank appoints Devarshi Das,Simon Kelland and Rohan Menon )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... ANZ INVESTMENT BANK HAS MADE THREE KEY APPOINTMENTS in its project finance business in Australia and Asia. Devarshi Das has joined the bank from US based Progressive Insurance as its senior associate, project finance. Das will be based in...

St George excels again: there are sceptics in the market who still argue St George is just the right bank in the right market at the right time.(NEWS)
June 30, 2005... Gail Kelly is riding a retail banking bull market, middle-market business lending is strong, and she doesn't have to worry about price wars and regulatory shackles in New Zealand. There is good luck in this result, but every time Kelly delivers...

Bankers could lead the sustainability revolution: a new report highlights how Australia's banking and finance industry could make major contributions to Australia's sustainability by incorporating new thinking into their financing decisions.(NEWS)
June 30, 2005... While the bond between banking and sustainability may not be obvious, scientists from CSIRO and University of Sydney have made the link through a detailed analysis of Australia's triple bottom line in a revolutionary report on sustainability...

Skills shortage forces banking, finance and retail salaries up.
June 30, 2005... SALARIES IN THE BANKING AND finance and retail industries have recorded the highest salary movements of 5.1 percent and 5.3 percent respectively the country's largest national salary survey has found. In fact there is no doubt that the skills...

Banking on Six Sigma to improve service quality: a case study: major Australian financial institution: improving the quality of IT services continues to be on the agenda for IT managers and practitioners in the banking and finance industry.(IT Infrastructure Library)
June 30, 2005... To help address this, organisations have turned to practices and quality methods that include IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), and Six Sigma--combining them to measure the quality of service, and improve IT-dependent business processes by...

Top executives attend industry awards night.
June 30, 2005... John Magiros and John-Paul Burgess from NCR. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Peter Beattie, Paul Lahiff of Mortgage Choice, winners of Best Mortgage Broker with Pat O'Sullivan from Optus. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Theo Angelopoulos,...

Mortgage Choice Limited.(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... FORMED IN SYDNEY IN 1992, MORTGAGE Choice has grown to be Australia's leading mortgage broker and is the only pure-play mortgage broker listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Mortgage Choice provides professional home loan advice on over...

Suncorp.(achievements of Suncorp Investment Management)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... SUNCORP HAS BEATEN A NATIONAL LINE UP of regional banks to win the award for best regional bank at the 15th annual Australian Banking and Finance Awards. Suncorp has a proud history stretching back to its foundations as the Agricultural...

St. George Bank.(achievements and growth)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... ST.GEORGE HAS PROVIDED ANOTHER STRONG result with interim profits increasing by 14.4% (before significant items). It has also continued with its strong dividend policy, declaring a dividend of 67 cents, up 11.7%. This excellent result was...

UOB targets SMEs with new credit card: Singapore's United Overseas Bank has teamed up with Visa International to launch a platinum business credit card targeting small and medium sized businesses across South East Asia.(United Overseas Bank Ltd.)(Small and medium sized enterprises)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... UOB said SMEs would be able to centralise their business spending on a single card which would help them better manage and control their expenses. The card comes with an eight percent interest rate. UOB first vice president and head of...

Indonesia's biggest bank wants merger.(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... INDONESIA'S LARGEST BANK BY assets, Bank Mandiri is seeking to merge with Bank Negara Indonesia--both banks are state owned. Bank Mandiri president Agus Martowardojo said the bank had proposed to the Indonesian government to merge the bank...

UK banks told to hurry up automated payments: UK banks will speed up the processing of online and telephone funds transfers between banks following pressure from consumers and regulators.(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... The banks have pledged to clear funds between banks either on the same day the transfer is made or the following day at the latest if requested to do so by customers via the internet or telephone. Direct debit payments will also be processed on...

Doubling speed to market: IOOF boosts performance by 680% with Sun Java Enterprise System.(REPORT)
June 30, 2005... Australian funds management company IOOF is now a faster, more agile organisation after deploying a Java platform based on Sun Microsystems' Java Enterprise System. The open standard solution has resulted in dramatic productivity and...

Key experts debate the IT outlook.(information technology)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... Key experts were present at the recent IT Outlook Debate Luncheon held by Australian Banking & Finance in Sydney and included panellists Anne Myers of ING Direct, John Loebenstein from St George, Stephen Phillips from the NAB and Bob McKinnon...

All a facade.(Australia. Prudential Regulation Authority warns mortgage banks)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... A sound rap over the knuckles for the buoyant mortgage sector, we see. And timely too. Inadequate valuations have become almost endemic, APRA warns, citing such practices as comparing, in the comfort of the office, values of similar properties,...

A toast to Macquarie.(Macquarie Bank)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... So the truth is out at last. While the rest of us have been wondering just how we could join Allan "I'm just another staffer" Moss and his merry men over at Macquarie and get our hands on that $300,000 average salary, a failed young hopeful has...

Kim's 'bully pulpit'.(appointment of Kim Beazley )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... Some secret crowing in corporate offices last week, we hear, as Kim Beazley joined the outcry over that magic $9 billion the banks are said to have reaped in credit card fees. "If I was the treasurer at this moment what I would be doing is...

Cakes and pennies.(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... An interesting report came out last month on the benefits of teaching children the value of money at a very tender age. Most of us, of course, discovered this the first time we realized that after buying the cake, we no longer had the penny....

Replacing core computer systems: overseas trends indicate that significant money is about to be spent on core banking system replacements by the major banks in developed markets.
June 30, 2005... This contrasts with the situation in recent years, where the purchase of core systems has been apparently more confined to smaller banks. The combination of increasing competition and regulation are now driving the change in the overseas...

Capital gains.(Brief Article)
June 30, 2005... "I'm a bit concerned about my fund manager. He said he keeps 60% in stocks, 25% in bonds, and 25% in a money market account. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]