Latest news and insights on banking and finance in Australia and New Zealand, as delivered in the daily 7am Banking Day email news service (subscribe or take out a free trial).
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Former National Irish Bank executives try to suppress report
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19 July 2004 12:00amFormer senior executives of National Australia Bank subsidiary, National Irish Bank, are expected to take legal action to prevent the publication of a report that criticises several aspects of the bank's practices in the late 1980s and 1990s. » read more »
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SuperBank prices at high end of NZ mortgage market
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19 July 2004 12:00amSt George Bank's New Zealand arm has decided to adopt the pricing point of its major, Australian-based competitors for its first foray into that country's home loan market, with a variable home loan interest rate of 8.0 per cent. The interest rate charged by most small bank and non-bank competitors is slightly less (in the 7.90 per cent to 7.95 per cent range), while Kiwibank continues to provide home loans at 7.50 per cent. » read more »
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ERG cleans up one more time
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19 July 2004 12:00amTransit ticketing integrator and marginal payments play ERG Group will remain dependent on its dominant shareholders, loosely known as the Ingot group, for capital, even once the company completes the sale of $67 million worth of ordinary shares late next month. » read more »
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ERG still paying Ingot and interest premium for capital
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19 July 2004 12:00amThe prospectus suggests that the share sale by ERG at a two thirds discount to the market price is still not enough to ensure adequate financial flexibility, with the company still paying unusually high rates on of interest on short-term loan from the Ingot entities. The company also remains in technical breach of its banking facilities with ANZ and National banks, as well as with Ingot and also Motorola (ERG's former cornerstone investor). » read more »
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AFIG cuts rates and adds fees
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16 July 2004 12:00amAustralian Financial Investments Group has cut its mortgage delivery rate, but introduced an annual fee and increased the loan exit fee, in a bid to induce mortgage introducers to promote AFIG-funded loans at the expense of loans from other sources. » read more »
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Bill presentment nears break even for HPAL
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16 July 2004 12:00amHPAL Limited, a mail house-turned business processing outsourcing specialist (whatever that exactly is) might be the first ASX listed company to report earnings for the June 2004 reporting period, and is the first in the banking and payments arena to do so. » read more »
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RBA turns up Eftpos data three months late
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16 July 2004 12:00amSome of the participants in April's stoush in the Australian Competition Tribunal over the regulation of wholesale fees on debit card transactions jumped into a fresh rhetorical war yesterday, with the Reserve Bank of Australia finally publishing some of the data that the bank perhaps could have, but didn't, introduce in evidence at the ACT hearing. » read more »
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Spending on charge cards displaces credit cards
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16 July 2004 12:00amThe Reserve Bank Bulletin also provides its regular monthly series on payment card use, which for May 2004 shows that: » read more »
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RBA urges surcharge on AmEx and Diners
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16 July 2004 12:00amThe Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday suggested that merchants either cease acceptance of American Express and Diners Club cards, or at least impose surcharges for their use, in a bid to engender a reduction in the level of merchant fees charged by these schemes. » read more »
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Overseas borrowing continues to fund household credit
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16 July 2004 12:00amAustralian financial institutions continue to borrow from overseas, largely to fund the expansion of domestic household credit, according to the Reserve Bank's latest Bulletin. » read more »
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NAB provides reality check on bank earnings
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15 July 2004 12:00amNational Australia Bank has rung warning bells about its own earnings outlook, and most likely that of the whole banking sector, with an announcement yesterday that the bank's cash earnings, before significant items, for the half year to September 2004 are expected to be 10 per cent to 15 per cent lower than the March 2004 half year result of $1.85 billion. » read more »
