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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Gresham profit doubles
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11 August 2004 12:00amThe annual result for Wesfarmers shows a recovery in the earnings of investment bank and venture capitalist Gresham Partners. » read more »
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APRA pulls the leash on captives
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10 August 2004 12:00amBank-owned or "captive" insurance subsidiaries that in theory protect banks against losses on their home loans won't be such a satisfactory, or profitable, option from some time next year, with the Australian Prudential Regulation likely to change the rules governing the provision and use of mortgage insurance. » read more »
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St George target of APRA mortgage insurance reforms
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10 August 2004 12:00amThis newsletter's guess is that it is St George Bank that is the most significant target of APRA's reform of the prudential rules in this sector. » read more »
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Debt servicing ratio keeps rising
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10 August 2004 12:00amThe aggregate household debt servicing ratio increased further in the March 2004 quarter, to 9.4 per cent of disposable income, according to the estimate published in the Reserve Bank of Australia's quarterly statement on monetary policy yesterday. » read more »
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Bendigo back on track
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10 August 2004 12:00amBendigo Bank restored momentum to its earnings growth in the June 2004 half year, after a pause in earnings in the December 2003 half. » read more »
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Bendigo sheds home loan market share
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10 August 2004 12:00amBendigo's point of distributions might be growing quickly, but they are not translating into above average growth in the bank's core product, which is residential home loans. » read more »
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Premium growth softens at PMI
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09 August 2004 12:00amThere's another sign of the dampening in the rate of growth of the home loan market in the June quarter results of lenders mortgage insurance company, PMI Group. Financial statements filed in the US on Friday show that for the group's operations in Australia and New Zealand: » read more »
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Genworth limits disclosure
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09 August 2004 12:00amGenworth, the second of the two lenders mortgage insurance companies that constitute the duopoly in the LMI market in Australia, unfortunately has adopted the disclosure policies of its major shareholder, the General Electric Company, and so discloses as little as possible. » read more »
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Investec returns three per cent
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09 August 2004 12:00amInvestec Bank (Australia), a boutique private bank and investment bank, has now filed its full financial statements for the year to March 2004. This newsletter's previously reported highlights of the bank's financials in Australia, in sterling, extracted from filings published in Britain of the Anglo/South African banking group. » read more »
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ASB Bank sells BBQ Factory
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09 August 2004 12:00amCommonwealth Bank's unintended foray into investment in the New Zealand retail sector has come to a rapid close, with the sale by ASB Bank in New Zealand of its whooly-owned stake in BBQ Factory to listed investor and autoparts importer, Hellaby Holdings. » read more »
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NZ IRD targets bank tax minimisation
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09 August 2004 12:00amThe wrangle between mainly Australian-owned banks and New Zealand's government over their tax affairs may be a drawn out dispute. » read more »
