Australian Banking & Finance articles from May 2004

Australian Banking & Finance archives from May 2004

Winning the change game.(IT infrastructure and investments)
May 18, 2004... "Embrace change and you can lead the market, fear change and it's all over," Craig Williams, National FSI Manager, HP Australia told Australian Banking and Finance when talking on how to win in the Australian marketplace. Sounds simple but...

Kelly the top executive ANZ secures best bank.(Australian Banking & Finance Awards 2004)(Gall Kelly has been voted Best Financial Services Executive)
May 18, 2004... The managing director and chief executive of St George Bank Gall Kelly has been voted Best Financial Services Executive by our readers for the second year in succession in the 14th annual Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine Awards. ...

First lady of banking delivers again.(Best Financial Services Executive, Gail Kelly)(St. George Bank Ltd.)
May 18, 2004... BEST FINANCIAL SERVICES EXECUTIVE SHE MAY HAVE SURPRISED THE market when appointed CEO of St George in January 2002, but Gail Kelly is now delighting the investment community. The "first lady'" of banking, as she is known, has steered...

McFarlane reinvents ANZ Bank.(Best Bank)
May 18, 2004... IN NOVEMBER 2000, ANZ developed a plan to become a high performing, values driven organisation. The plan was called Perform, Grow and Breakout. Part of the plan (Perform) was for ANZ to continue to build upon its strong financial...

Wizard 'branches out' into home big league.(Best Non-Bank Financial Institution)(Wizard Mortgage Corp. Ltd.)
May 18, 2004... WIZARD HOME LOANS RECENTLY celebrated the success of its branch model with the opening of its 200th branch and the announcement that its loan book has passed the $10 billion mark. Wizard opened its first branch in Haymarket, Sydney in 1998....

Bank of Queensland increases footprint.(Best Regional Bank)
May 18, 2004... BEST REGIONAL BANK BANK OF QUEENSLAND HAS MADE strong progress on a variety of fronts in the past year. Its aggressive market growth led to record profit after tax of $28.1 million for the half-year ended February 29, an increase of...

ING Direct model a runaway success.(Best Foreign Bank)(company sales and earnings)
May 18, 2004... BEST FOREIGN BANK ING DIRECT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE real success stories in Australian banking. It began operating in Australia in August 1990 and today boasts more than 600,000 customers with a deposit base of over $11 billion. Its...

Diversity buoys Macquarie.(Best Finance Bank)(Macquarie Bank)
May 18, 2004... BEST INVESTMENT BANK MACQUARIE BANK HAS TURNED in yet another outstanding performance in the past year, confirming its status as the No 1 investment bank in Australia. CEO and MD Allan Moss told the market in February the result for...

Virgin card shakes market.(Best New Product)(new Virgin Credit Card)
May 18, 2004... BEST NEW PRODUCT SIR RICHARD BRANSON LAUNCHED the revolutionary new Virgin Credit Card in May last year and predicted it would lead to a major shake up of the Australian market. Since then Virgin has issued 300,000 cards in Australia....

Heritage extends rate of growth.(Best Building Society)(Heritage Building Society Ltd.)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... BEST BUILDING SOCIETY AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST BUILDING society, Heritage, has extended its strong run of growth in the past year. In the six months to December the Toowoomba-based society achieved record housing loan approvals of $1.2...

CUA derivers bumper result.(Best Credit Union)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... BEST CREDIT UNION CREDIT UNION AUSTRALIA, THE country's largest credit union, has had a bumper past year, announcing the strongest results in its history as its aggressive expansion program continues. CUA managing director Graham...

Loebenstein engineers change.(Best CIO/E-Banker)(John Loebenstein appointed)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... BEST CIO/E-BANKER JOHN LOEBENSTEIN JOINED THE executive management team at St George Bank in 1995, having previously worked in the insurance industry in the United Kingdom and Australia. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Insurers,...

'Raymond the RAM' builds profile.(Best Banking & Finance Promotion)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... RAMS HOME LOANS LAUNCHED its national brand campaign in January, focused on a now series of television commercials featuring RAMS' famous 'Raymond the Ram Slippers'. Using compelling visuals of the Raymond Slippers, RAMS has produced five...

Bank of Queensland site comprehensive.(Best Website)(Brief Article)(Advertisement)
May 18, 2004... BEST WEBSITE THE BANK OF QUEENSLAND website is a usable and functional website that is one of the quickest sites to download in the banking and finance category. The site contains product and service content across Personal and...

Mortgage choice has wide appeal.(Best Mortgage Broker)
May 18, 2004... BEST MORTGAGE BROKER FORMED IN SYDNEY IN 1992, Mortgage Choice has grown to be the country's reading mortgage broker. Mortgage Choice provides professional advice regarding mortgage products offered by its panel of lenders and a...

Symond a pioneer of change.(Hall Of Fame)
May 18, 2004... HALL OF FAME WITH THESE WORDS IN FEBRUARY 1992, Aussie Home Loans opened its doors in Australia, heralding real interest rate competition in home lending for the first time. It was a huge gamble--and there were times soon after opening...

Murray lashes RBA reforms: Commonwealth Bank chief executive David Murray fired up the debate on credit card reform by slamming the Reserve Bank's changes as "a regulatory disaster".(International Consumer Credit & Cards Summit)(Reserve Bank of Australia)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... HE SAID THE FEDERAL GOVERNment must unwind "this mistake before too much damage is done". Murray said charge card companies such as Diners Club and American Express and retailers were the big winners from the system--not consumers who were...

Credit reporting system needs 'urgent' overhaul.(International Consumer Credit & Cards Summit)
May 18, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S CREDIT REPORTING system is in urgent need of overhaul, speakers at the International. Consumer and Credit Card Summit in Sydney agreed. A major industry report released at the conference, presented by Australian Banking &...

Behind the screens.(International Consumer Credit A Cards Summut)
May 18, 2004... WHAT HAS A THONG, A CAN of beer and a $10 bill got to do with banking? Well, a lot if you are CBA chief David Murray. Speaking at this newsmagazine's International Consumer Credit and Cards summit last month Murray went to unusual lengths...

Credit card summit attracts top international speakers.(International Consumer Credit & Cards Summit)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine last month presented the inaugural international Consumer Credit and Cards conference in Sydney. It focused on topics such as consumer credit reporting models, innovation in bankcards and the future of...

D&B unveils 'fair' reporting model: Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) launched its "fair" reporting model at the summit.(International Consumer Credit & Cards Summit)(D&B Corp.)
May 18, 2004... THE SUMMIT BROUGHT TOGETHER experts from the credit card and banking industries to discuss the changing nature of the Australian credit card industry, with a focus on topics such as consumer credit reporting models, innovation in bankcards and...

CBA introduces multi currency card service.(Commonwealth Bank of Australia)
May 18, 2004... THE CONMONWEALTH BANK has introduced a new EFTPOS multicurrency service, Currency Conversion. The service will provide international credit card customers the flexibility of paying in their home currency at the point of sate or in...

Another view.(News)(credit card thieves)
May 18, 2004... THE BOSTON HERALD REports a new generation of credit card thieves apparently views big retailers the way famed robber Willie Sutton viewed banks. They're swiping credit information from B.J.'s Wholesale Club and others because, in Sutton's...

ANZ reshuffles executives.(News)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... AS PART OF A SIGNIFICANT executive restructure consistent with CEO John McFarlane's management strategy of moving key personnel around, Brian Hartzer has been appointed group managing director of personal banking at ANZ--a new division which...

Triple DES gains attention.(News)(Data Encryption Standard )(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... MORE THAN 50% OF FINANCIAL institutions are focusing their security initiatives on the implementation of Triple DES. That was one of the findings of a poll conducted at NCR's 'Comply with Me!' security and standards seminar last month. ...

Performing for measurement.(banking and financial services sector growth)
May 18, 2004... WITH THE CONTINUED STRONG growth in the banking and financial services sector, the question becomes "where to next?" The common theme from the industry, though with some exceptions, is organic growth, improved customer services and for the...

Insurance luncheon.(News)(competition)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... STAYING COMPETITIVE IN THE insurance industry is a difficult task. Competition is becoming more fierce and it is a continual task to assess new product tines and target markets. Insurers must keep their organisation agile, control...

Investment banks in boom year: last year was one of the best year's in investment banking history.(News)
May 18, 2004... GLOBAL INVESTMENT-BANKING revenues rose to $US160 billion in 2003, with the majority of revenues generated in fixed-income trading. The industry earned $US49 billion in profits, including $US31 billion from debt-related businesses,...

CUA's record year.(Current Account)(Credit Union Australia )(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST CREDIT union, Credit Union Australia (CUA), has revealed its tending volumes to March were up 80% on the corresponding period in 2003 with monthly averages sitting at $100 million. CUA managing director Graham Olrich...

Dragon refines marketing.(Current Account)(Orbis agreement with St. George Bank Ltd.)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... ORBIS, A LEADING 14ARKETING management software company, has announced an agreement to provide its Brand Manager software to St George Bank. The engagement of Brand Manager software solution is an important factor in St George's aim to...

Banking world.(Current Account)(acquisitions law)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... Citibank's main branch seen in Bangkok, Thailand. A law taking effect this year will permit acquisitions of profitable banks that may help overseas lenders including 5tandard Chartered, HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc increase their 20%...

On the record.(Current Account)(ANZ Bank Ltd. market expectations)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... "ANZ has never been about meeting market expectations, it's about hopefully exceeding market expectations." ANZ CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOHN MCFARLANE, ANNOUNCING A RECORD HALF YEAR PROFIT OF $1.4 BILLION. "I believe there is more likelihood...

Duty to disclose property valuation.(News)(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission )
May 18, 2004... DOES A BANK HAVE A DUTY TO disclose a valuation to its customer? Can a bank be found liable for misleading and deceptive or unconscionable conduct by failing to disclose a valuation to its customer? In a recent Federal Court case, the...

Faces of banking and finance 2004.(News)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... MACQUARIE FUNDS MANAGEment has appointed Cathryn Wise as national sates manager for its retail funds management business. Cathryn joins Macquarie from Barclays Global Investors where she was a national key account manager and was...

Rare banknotes spark interest.(News)(AADA Antiques & Fine Arts Fair)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... A COLLECTION OF RARE BANKnotes will be on display at the AADA Antiques & Fine Arts Fair at Wharf 8, Sussex St, Sydney on August 18-22. It is the most prestigious and one of the largest antique fairs held in Australia with more than 50...

NZ banks post big profits.(News)(New Zealand)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... A B00MING PROPERTY MARKET, strong immigration, low interest rates and a robust domestic economy helped lift the performance of New Zealand's biggest banks last year. The rate of underlying profit growth for registered banks rose 12.3...

Living standards to fall.(News)
May 18, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S AGEING DEMOgraphics and rising health costs will cause Australia's living standards to fall 27% below what they would otherwise be--the equivalent of a massive $130 billion a year in today's dollars or $6500 a year for every...

China's bubble economy.(News)
May 18, 2004... CHINA IS HAVING A TOUGH TIME keeping its economy from growing too fast. The key question is whether the authorities can control what some have described as a bubble economy without bringing down the whole house--and maybe a good part of...

Risk market firm.(News)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... THE GROUP RISK MARKET CONtinues to strengthen and consumers are increasingly taking out risk insurance through master trust platforms; according to PrefSure Life. Geoff Black, managing director of PrefSure Life, says the trend towards...

Loan refinancing on the increase.(News)
May 18, 2004... LATEST FIGURES FROM THE Reserve Bank underline the popularity of mortgage refinancing in Australia. In January lending commitments for refinancing amounted to $9.8 billion, down from a peak in September 2003 of $11.8 billion, but still...

HP and the financial services industries.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... HP has worked extensively with leading and emerging financial institutions in helping them achieve immediate and dynamic business agility through the Adaptive Enterprise vision and from leveraging strategic outsourcing options. With more...

Special message from First Data International.
May 18, 2004... With First Data International's acquisition of Cashcard Australia recently completed, the Australian Banking & Finance Awards is my first opportunity to officially represent Cashcard. In line with the awards, this is an exciting time for the...

Best financial services executive 2004: Gail Kelly: CEO StGeorge.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... GAIL KELLY CEO ST GEORGE She may have surprised the market when appointed CEO of St George in January 2002, but Gail Kelly is now delighting the investment community. The "first lady" of banking, as she is known, has steered...

Best bank 2004: ANZ Bank.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... ANZ BANK ANZ Bank has been the standout performer among the top four banks in the past year This was confirmed only last month when the bank delivered a 22% increase in first-half profit to $1.4 billion on increased lending, higher...

Best non-bank financial institution 2004: Wizard Home Loans.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... WIZARD HOME LOANS Wizard Home Loans recently celebrated the success of its branch model with the opening of its 200th branch and the announcement that its loan book has passed the $10 billion mark Wizard opened its first branch in...

Best regional bank 2004: Bank of Queensland.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... BANK OF QUEENSLAND Bank of Queensland has made strong progress on a variety of fronts in the past year. Its aggressive market growth led to record profit after tax of $28.1 million for the half-year ended February 29, an increase of...

Best foreign bank 2004: ING Direct.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... ING DIRECT ING Direct has been one of the real success stories in Australian banking. It began operating in Australia in August 1999 and today boasts more than 600,000 customers with a deposit base of over $11 billion. Its...

Best investment bank 2004: Macquire Bank.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... MACQUARIE BANK Macquarie Bank has turned in yet another outstanding performance in the past year, confirming its status as the No 1 investment bank in Australia. CEO and MD Allan Moss told the market in February the bank's result for...

Best website 2004 (formerly best e-commerce initiative): Bank of Queensland.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... BANK OF QUEENSLAND The Bank of Queensland website is a usable and functional website that is one of the quickest sites to download in the banking and finance category. The site contains product and service content across Personal and...

Best new product launched 2004: Virgin Credit Card.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... VIRGIN CREDIT CARD Sir Richard Branson launched the revolutionary new Virgin Credit Card in May last year and predicted it would lead to a major shake up of the Australian market. Since then Virgin has issued 300,000 cards in...

Best banking & finance promotion 2004: RAMS Home Loans.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... RAMS HOME LOANS RAMS Home Loans launched its national brand campaign in January, focused on a new series of television commercials featuring RAMS' famous 'Raymond the Ram Slippers'. Using compelling visuals of the Raymond Slippers,...

Best chief information officer/e-banker 2004: John Locbenstein: CIO St Geroge.(chief information officer)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... JOHN LOEBENSTEIN CIO ST GEORGE John Loebenstein is group executive, Information Technology at St George. He has headed up St George's Information Technology operations since joining the group in 1995. He was previously...

Best building society 2004: Heritage Building Society.(Heritage Building Society)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... HERITAGE BUILDING SOCIETY Australia's largest building society, Heritage, has extended its strong run of growth in the past year. In the six months to December the Toowoomba-based society achieved record housing loan approvals of $1.2...

Best credit union 2004: Credit Union Australia.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... CREDIT UNION AUSTRALIA Credit Union Australia, the country's largest credit union, has had a bumper past year, announcing the strongest results in its history as its aggressive expansion program continues. CUA managing director Graham...

Hall of fame 2004: John Symond: Founder and Managing Director Aussie Group.(Biography)
May 18, 2004... JOHN SYMOND FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR AUSSIE GROUP "I saw the competition mortgage originators had provided the banks in the US, and I thought to myself: Australians have been taken for a ride for long enough by the banks in...

Best mortgage broker 2004 (new for 2004): Morgage Choice.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2004... MORTGAGE CHOICE Formed in Sydney in 1992, Mortgage Choice has grown to be the country's leading mortgage broker. Mortgage Choice provides professional advice regarding mortgage products offered by its panel of lenders and a convenient...

In attendance: past VIP's.
May 18, 2004... 1997 ROB BORBIDGE THEN PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND 1996 JEFF KENNETT THEN PREMIER OF VICTORIA 1995 JOHN HOWARD PRIME MINISTER

Aust banks world class.(global banking financial measures)
May 31, 2004... THE GLOBAL BANKING INDUSTRY increased its stock market value by more than US$1.3 trillion in 2003, driven by improved fundamental performance and higher market expectations. According to Winners in the Age of the Titans: Creating Value in...

National blurred vision.(National Australia Bank financial earnings)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOHN Stewart's body language at the group's recent results announcement best reflect the picture at the bank--a mix of disappointment, uncertainty and hope looking forward. Stewart this month...

2004 Insurance Awards.(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... FRESH FROM THE OUTSTANDing success of the Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine Awards, preparations are now underway for the second annual Insurance Awards. A judging panel comprising Helen Nugent, director of Macquarie Bank, Andrew...

ABA fine-tunes code of practice.(Australian Bankers' Association)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... THE AUSTRALIAN BANKERS' Association has announced some modifications to the revised Code of Banking Practice to fine-tune some disclosures and practices so they better suit the needs of prospective guarantors and to reduce unnecessary time and...

Westpac's $100m EFTPOS transaction.(Current Account)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... SECURE ELECTRONIC TRANSACtion solutions provider Keycorp has signed an agreement with Westpac to supply the bank with EFTPOS terminal services. The five year agreement, valued at $100 million, will see Keycorp and the services arm of its...

Suncorp completes new ATM roll-out.(advanced-function automated teller machines for Suncorp Metway)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... DIEBOLD INCORPORATED HAS completed the initial phase of its contract to provide Suncorp Metway with advanced-function automated teller machines and service support. Under the terms of the contract, Diebold is supplying the bank with 136...

Banking world.(Current Account)
May 31, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: A customer uses a cashpoint in a Deutsche Postbank office in Bonn, Germany. Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's largest bank, is considering whether to bid for Deutsche Postbank AG to more than double its German...

ALDI takes advantage of RBA card reforms.(supermarket chain offers enhanced credit card services after Reserve Bank of Australia reforms)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S NEWEST SUPERmarket chain ALBI Stores is the first major retailer to take advantage of the Reserve Bank's recent reform of credit card schemes to offer customers an enhanced service through extended payment options. Until now...

Insurance networking news reports that skilled drivers have fewer accidents.(another view)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... That's the logic behind a unique auto insurance program devised by Hibernian General Insurance, a Dublin, Ireland-based motor, home, farm and commercial insurance company that claims 26% of the Irish market. Launched in 2001, the program is...

On the record.(Current Account)
May 31, 2004... "I have to tell you guys it hasn't been fun, but I am enthused, really enthused by what we can do with these businesses." NAB CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOHN STEWART ON HIS JOB IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS. "There is only one direction for housing from...

Insurers tops in customer response: Australia's Big Four banks answer customer e-mail inquiries very differently, according to new research by customer experience experts Global Reviews.(News)
May 31, 2004... THE FINDINGS ARE CONTAINED in the inaugural E-mail Customer Service Benchmark, an assessment of the e-mail service offered by 20 top Australian companies. Newcastle-based health insurer NIB was the clear winner, achieving a benchmark score...

Banks counting on lift in business sector loans.(News)
May 31, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S FIVE MAJOR BANKS performed well during the first half of 2003/04, reporting asset growth of 10.7% from March 2002/03 to $1,230 billion at March 2003/04. The growth is due to a combination of factors, including continued...

Foreign bank practices.(UK 'savings' accounts often don't preserve capital value)
May 31, 2004... WHEN IS IT MISLEADING TO call a bank account a "savings account"? This is an issue that has been drawing a degree of negative press in the United Kingdom recently. The argument there revolved around the implication that such a...

Banks tap offshore markets.
May 31, 2004... AUSTRALIAN BANKS HAVE NOT been idle in tapping favorable investor demand for high-quality issuance that pays internationally good yield. To fund the gap between what they can mobilise in the retail. market and what is required to fund...

Platinum card industry shines.(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... PLATINUM CREDIT CARDS WILL record significant growth over the next few years as the benefits of the 'one size fits all card model' are increasingly eroded and more card issuers identify platinum credit cards as a way to achieve differentiation...

ING to bolster business profile.(to expend its share of commercial mortgage market)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... ING BANK IS LOOKING TO expand Its share of the commercial mortgage market with the introduction of a specialised team focusing on small-to-medium sized loans secured by commercial property. The bank is already a provider for large...

Banks cautious on aged care crisis.(financing needed to build aged care facilities)
May 31, 2004... AUSTRALIA'S FIRST AND SECOND tier banks have yet to decide if they will become major lenders to the aged care facilities that will be needed as our population continues ageing. Although individual bankers would usually welcome the chance of...

QBE to buy out ING.(QBE Insurance Group agreed to purchase ING's 50% share in the QBE Mercantile Mutual)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... QBE INSURANCE GROUP HAS agreed to purchase ING's 50% share in the QBE Mercantile Mutual joint venture in Australia and ING's Australian general insurance underwriting business conducted by Mercantile Mutual Insurance Australia and Mercantile...

St Andrews approves transfer.(of BankWest's insurance and wealth management division )(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... THE BOARD OF ST ANDREW'S Australia has approved the transfer of BankWest's insurance and wealth management division to the ownership of St Andrew's. The new division will form the insurance and investment division for HBOS Australia and...

Bancassurance fails to bloom.(Australian Insurer)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... BANCASSURANCE HAS ENORmous potential to affect sales of personal lines insurance products in the life, health, and property casualty segments. But so far that potential. has failed to bloom in the US despite years of effort by many banks...

Kiwis support local institutions: a report on New Zealand's five main banks shows these Australian-owned institutions are bleeding customers heavily to New Zealand institutions, in particular State-owned Kiwibank.(News)
May 31, 2004... "THE AUSTRALIAN BANKS AS A group are losing market share in New Zealand," said Merritt Lynch's Sydney-based analyst Hamish Carliste. Based on Roy Morgan Research, the survey found 180,000 main bank customers switch banks every year and...

Finance dominates service awards.(NSW Customer Service Institute's excellence awards)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY DOMINATED THE NSW CUSTOMER Service Institute's excellence awards this month. Among the six categories of winners were ANZ Bank, ING, Westpac and non-bank lender Yes Home Loans. ING won the NSW and national,...

Online processing success.(for insurance brokers)
May 31, 2004... AUSTRALIAN INSURANCE BROKERS have embraced online processing. The innovative web-based delivery system, Z.stream, launched by Zurich Financial Services Australia just over a year ago, has proven a major success with over 500 brokers having...

Ink-staining technology part of new ATM fleet.(NCR's Cash4all automated teller machines)
May 31, 2004... NCR HAS LAUNCHED A UNIQUE "Cash4all" solution into the Australian market, creating new opportunities for deployers of automated teller machines (ATMs) in outdoor, off-premise locations. Although external ATMs typically drive higher...

Record crowd celebrates excellence.(Australian Banking & Finance 2004 Awards)
May 31, 2004... More than 500 representatives of the financial services community gathered in Sydney on May 18 to celebrate the 14th annual Australian Banking & Finance newsmagazine Awards. The record turnout warmly embraced St George CEO Gail Kelly as the...

Behind the screens: Phil Ayling at the awards.(magazine's 2004 awards ceremony)
May 31, 2004... Aussie John Symond brought a big entourage to this magazine's 2004 Awards ceremony, including his father Joseph. It was a nice touch. And so proud was the big fella to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, he seemed lost for words when he...