Banks

Stop all the cheering, cut off the champagne. Prevent the pollies from barking and silence the drums. The piddling interest rate cut didn’t even happen.

Today’s widely expected drop of 25 basis points was the catalyst for plenty of chest beating. Treasurer Wayne Swan tried to unleash righteous fury, the banks tried to cry poor, the unions said the banks are squeezing ordinary Australians, and not in a good way. Nothing happened. The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep the cash rate steady.

But was all the hullabaloo justified in the first place?

Continue reading "Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting" »

Poor old bankers. They keep telling us how tough it is for them with their funding costs expected to go up and how they will need to keep interest rates inflated.

And if the crying poor line isn’t enough the banks are quick to tell us that we are “picking on them” if we have a debate about how poorly they behave especially when the RBA changes the official interest rate.

Perhaps the “we’re doing it tough” line would carry some weight if the big banks didn’t show record profits year after year and if the banks’ CEOs weren’t getting such big pay packets year after year.

Continue reading "Time for an inquiry into this bunch of bankers" »

Wayne Swan has made a mockery of his Finance Minister of the Year award in his dithering, spineless effort at pressuring the banks to do the decent thing on interest rates.

Swan went into half-arsed PR mode yesterday, using the media to spruik the line that the Big Four banks should drop interest rates 0.25 per cent in line with the RBA’s 0.25 per cent cut in the official cash rate.

He could have, and should have, done more. His role is not to lamely express dismay on our behalf. He is the Federal Treasurer. He has contacts. At moments like this, he should personally contact the Big Four bank chiefs and threaten all manner of medieval punishments if they fail to pass on the rate cut, the whole rate cut and nothing but the whole rate cut.

Continue reading "Wayne, shut your jawbone and show some backbone" »

One of the favoured chants of the Occupy Wall Street protesters is “This is what democracy looks like”. It’s an unusual definition of democracy, predicated on an impertinent belief that stopping people from going to work or abusing them for wearing suits is a central tenet of the democratic process.

The protests, which started in Lower Manhattan two months ago as a demonstration against corporate greed, have now been replicated in many of the bigger cities throughout the world. In Melbourne protesters and police scuffled a couple of times, with dog squads and mobs coming face to face. Protest sympathisers say the cops have been too rough, while the cops say the crowds had fair warning they would be dragged away if they didn’t leave voluntarily.

Martin Place in Sydney has been another venue for occupation, albeit an occupation which sputtered to an early halt when the anarcho-syndicalist catering collective failed to lay on any food for the demonstrators, many of whom promptly called it a night and went back to Mum and Dad’s in Paddington for dinner.

Continue reading "A left-wing protest against left-wing problems" »

Have I got SUCKER tatooed on my forehead? Or a big bulls-eye and the words “easy target” pinned to my back?

Not last time I checked, but that doesn’t stop the scammers from trying some very obvious tricks to part me from my cash.

The lonely Russian girls have finally given up after coming to the conclusion I wasn’t their passport to a new life of riches - but their Russian Mafia bosses and Nigerian cousins haven’t.

Continue reading "Back off, scammers, you’re barking up the wrong tree" »

Share market panics are scary and absolutely no-one knows for sure where they’ll end up.

The smarties will talk about buying bargains now because Australia’s future is more linked to China than the US or Europe, and how our economy is much better placed to ride out any financial storms than the rest of the world.

They’re right. BUT share market panics are not logical. They’re driven by emotion and almost impossible to predict.

Continue reading "Ignore the crash, and have some beer and skittles" »

I know what you’re thinkin. You’re thinkin you want your bank to stop listening to focus groups and its marketing department and to stop telling us stuff it thinks we want to hear.

You’re thinkin that the next time your bank raises interest rates by more than the Reserve Bank’s official 0.25 per cent, you’re going to walk into your local branch and dump a bag of horse manure in the revolving doors.

You’re thinkin that the ANZ recently spent $15 million to change its logos from three stripes to one stripe with a blue flower thrown in for good measure, and that Aussie Hollywood superstar Simon Baker can’t have come cheaply either.

Continue reading "If banks live in my world, I’m moving to Mars" »

When I was 9, I found a $20 note on the ground.

Back then, it was an astronomical amount of money for a nine year old.  And as I glimpsed it, beneath a moving crowd, I stopped dead in my tracks, staring and pointing until mum yelled ‘Just pick it up!’.

Then, something even better happened. Mum said I could keep the money.  Suddenly, I was rich.  I clutched it in my sweaty little hand all night.  I put it lovingly in a black case and checked on it every day.  And then when my birthday came around, I spent it on an extravagant doll from Big W.

Continue reading "Bank error in your favour!" »

Each and every day millions of Australians pay financial institutions to access their own money.

Some pay more while others pay less, depending on the way they do it. Sometimes, as with EFTPOS transactions, the price consumers pay for their own money is largely invisible, being factored into the prices of goods and services. In other cases, the cost of using your own money is embedded in bank fees, or else in forgone interest from transaction accounts with negligible rates of interest.

One of the most expensive ways for Australians to access their own money is by using a third-party automatic teller machine - that is, an ATM not provided by their own bank. In most cases, third-party ATMs charge $2 for every transaction, including checking one’s account balance. In other words, $2 is the price consumers pay every time they are disloyal to their bank.

Continue reading "Owning an ATM is money in the bank" »

In 1983, money came out of the closet. Up until then any discussion about money was taboo and considered uncouth. No-one ever talked about how much their house was worth, or what shares to buy, or whether to buy Aussie dollars now to get the best rate before they went on holidays.

Term deposits were considered financially sexy. No-one had heard about managed funds, superannuation or property syndicates unless you were among the rich and famous.

At that time treasurer Paul Keating floated the Australian dollar and deregulated the financial system.

Continue reading "Stop talking about your money, spend it!" »

Have you had a close look at Wayne Swan’s December 2010 bank package? Don’t worry if you haven’t yet as you haven’t missed much.

For those who have, it’s clear that it’s so light handed and minimalist that the big banks aren’t bothered by it. In fact, the big banks have even told the Senate banking inquiry that they actually like aspects of the package.

So much for Swan’s tough talk regarding the big banks. Given how much of a fizzer the package will be, one has to wonder if Swan’s announcement was more about being seen to be “doing something” in response to the public anger towards the big banks.

Continue reading "Swan’s bank package is a fizzer" »

Treasurer Wayne Swan, as Acting Prime Minister, began his press conference today by acknowledging Australians who have been hit by savage, widespread flooding.

Then he started talking about how he was going to help ordinary Australians by shaking up bits of the financial system, and it was at that precise point that Wayne Swan lost about 99 per cent of banking customers.

Floods they could understand, even if they were high and dry; covered bonds and RMBS funding were outside their usual ATM transactions.

Continue reading "That’s all great Wayne, but what about interest rates?" »

As the public anger against the four big banks continues, we wait with an air of expectation for Wayne Swan’s latest bank “reform” package to be announced.

This is not Swan’s first “reform” package. He announced one before and while some may have been excited about that earlier package, any excitement quickly faded as that package fizzled and the four big banks continued to thumb their nose at the Federal Treasurer.

Until independent competition and the conditions that allow independent competition to flourish are restored, consumers will continue to be gouged by the four big banks. Here’s a 12 point plan that might help provide a coordinated and targeted approach to the restoration of independent competition.

Continue reading "12 things Wayne Swan can do to tackle the Big 4 banks" »

$6.4 billion in profit: Westpac Bank. $5.7 billion in profit: Commonwealth Bank. $4.2 billion in profit: the NAB. And $4.5 billion dollars in profit: the ANZ bank.

That is $21 billion in profit made by the big four banks on the back of the worst global recession the world has seen since the Great Depression. $21 billion in profit made while the government continues to provide some guarantees to the banks first provided during the global financial crisis.

The Greens believe enough is enough.

Continue reading "The major parties haven’t done enough on banks" »

Julia Gillard will be squeezing this sitting week in between international engagements but it’s likely to be wholly domestic matters that dominate Question Time today. Join us here from 2pm for live coverage.

Prime Minister Gillard is reportedly angry over the latest bank interest rate rise but people expect action rather than emotion from their government.

Wayne Swan has been angry with the banks on more than 30 occasions over the past three years but that hasn’t stopped them from raising interest rates by more than the Reserve Bank. This almost never happened under John Howard and Peter Costello and is a sign that the current government isn’t taken seriously as an economic manager.

Seven interest rate rises in the past year have added more than $500 a month to the repayments on an average mortgage.

Continue reading "Julia and Wayne are very angry, but what will they do?" »

Wayne Swan has a problem.

The banks think he’s a pushover. Several hundred thousand home-owners agree.

Now that the ANZ has joined the Commbank in defying public opinion and overshooting the Reserve Bank’s official interest rate increase, the federal treasurer finds himself in familiar territory. He’s really, really angry.

Continue reading "Interest rates: what now Wayne?" »

Ralph Norris and the Commonwealth Bank have had a tough week.

Following the decision to raise lending rates by almost double the Reserve Bank’s own rate hike there has been stinging criticism from pretty much every sector of the economy and a bit of personal abuse thrown in for good measure. 

Representatives from across the political spectrum have anointed “bank bashing” as Australia’s new national sport and the CBA and Ralph himself are a daily headline for every journalistic medium.

Continue reading "Ralph… what we have here is a failure to communicate" »

As the four big banks continue to act as a law unto themselves it’s time for Wayne Swan to match the tough talk with tough action, especially in relation to our competition laws.

We have some of the weakest competition laws in the world and that’s why we’re now in this mess with the four big banks.

The simple reality is that Wayne Swan and the ACCC have allowed the four major banks to get as big as they. The ACCC and, ultimately Swan failed to stop Westpac from taking over St George and that was after years of failing to stop the four big banks from taking over the smaller banks.

Continue reading "How Swan can actually make the banks pay" »

Imagine the same people who ran Australia’s big four banks ran your local Italian restaurant. It’s the little things you would notice first – the asterisk at the bottom of the bill alerting you, in six point type, to the $2 cutlery retrieval fee imposed the moment the waiter brought you a knife and fork.

Looking at the specials board would also incur a $2 charge. So would asking for a high chair.

If on one unfortunate night you had a soggy carbonara and they forgot the garlic bread, you would have to return to the restaurant to organise a meeting with the owner, explain that it was nothing personal but things weren’t really up to scratch, fill in an exit form and pay them $1000 before you’d be able to transfer your custom to the trendy new bistro which had just opened up the road.

Continue reading "Gratuitous PR advice for our friends in banking" »

Although his line of business was never clearly identified, it has been suggested by some scholars that Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly grouch in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, was probably a banker or money lender.

Many current bank customers and mortgage holders would more than likely agree with this assessment in the wake of the wave of anger in the past week over interest rate rises and bank profits.

Bashing banks has long been a favourite Australian sport, especially when loan repayment pressures bite customers and the “Big Four” institutions reveal the billions they have made.

Continue reading "Public wants intervention on interest rate hikes" »

Loathe as I am to use a dirty four letter word a nice family-minded website, here goes ...

Bank.

To many observers our major banks appear to be engaged in a kind of cruel sport. The rules are obscure but it seems to involve repeated, heavy crash tackles on ordinary people – people with savings accounts, credit cards, home loans, that type of thing. Also kids, debts, bills and other worries. They’re commonly known as bank customers.

Continue reading "It’s official: we really, really, really hate the banks" »

Two weeks ago I decided to take a public stand on behalf of ordinary Australians. Home buyers, consumers and small business are sick and tired of being taken for a ride by the banks, who time and time again increase their interest rates above and beyond the official movements of the Reserve Bank.

I’ve had my critics - but if that means I’m standing up to a guy who earns $50,000 a day, while the customers who underwrite his business earn $50,000 a year – then I’ll cop it.

A strong banking sector is vital, but at the same time banks have an obligation to give something back to the community.

Continue reading "Hey Wayne, are you still laughing about bank reform?" »

There’s an old joke about what the difference is between a dead kangaroo on the road and a dead banker. There are skid marks in front of the kangaroo.

This week I am starting to wonder or not this is really a joke or the results from an experiment actually conducted.

If the last few days have brought any good news at all, they have at least confirmed Australians’ long-held suspicion that bankers are an evil clan of blood-sucking parasites with the social conscience of Genghis Khan.

Continue reading "It’s time for Julia to get medieval on the banks’ asses" »

This time yesterday Australians were merrily preparing for the Race that Stops the Nation, confident in the economists’ predictions the RBA would avoid the un-sportsmanlike act of hiking interest rates on Cup Day.

Just 24-hours later all hell has broken loose.

The RBA might have turned on the rates tap with its 25 basis points rise in official interest rates announced at 2.30 yesterday afternoon, but the Commonwealth Bank forced open the flood gates with an immediate move to put its own rates up 45 basis points.

Commbank boss Ralph Norris is not talking this morning, instead letting the Australian Bankers Association make the running.

Association chief executive Stephen Munchenberg said: “What the Commonwealth Bank is saying is that that marginal effect has built up 2 basis points or 0.2 per cent each month, and that’s now built up over nearly a year since the banks last moved interest rates, so there’s a cumulative effect there.”

Westpac just announced its profits have risen 84 per cent in the last 12 months. Yes, that wasn’t a typo - 84 per cent. In the 12 months to September 30 the Gail Kelly-steered Westpac made a net profit of $6.346 billion.

Apparently Kelly is due to make an announcement later today. Wonder what on earth that could be.

Continue reading "What a bunch of bankers" »

A bold prediction for Melbourne Cup Day - interest rates may or may not go up today. A slightly bolder prediction is that the next bank which argues it has to increase its standard variable home loan rate, without any corresponding increase in the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, will face a backlash of unprecedented scale. Equally, the next banker who pops his head up to say that public anger over fees and charges is a media beat-up will have his head bitten off.

There are about 20 billion reasons why Australia’s big four banks have run out of goodwill. Australians are generally a pretty level-headed lot and people understand the need to have a strong banking sector.

They’re grateful that the banks are run prudently and conservatively. They know what has happened in other western economies over the past couple of years, where the job has fallen to the taxpayers to bail out less cautious financial institutions. They also know that a strong banking sector, which makes a legitimate profit, adds to our collective long-term wealth through the shares that are held in our superannuation funds. 

Continue reading "Can our banks afford to make so much damned money?" »

Our major banks are not like other businesses.

If a boat builder in Taren Point, or a plastics manufacturer in Chipping Norton or a motel owner on the Central Coast of NSW gets into trouble, there will be no taxpayer bail out. There will be no funding guarantee to support their continued access to credit. There will be no Reserve Bank to act as their own on-call lender of last resort to see them through their troubles.

The GFC proved that our four big banks are too important to fail. They know it and the taxpayers know it. The banks may be a legitimately protected species, but that does not give them a license to be precious, striking out at anyone who would dare raise questions about how they do business.

Continue reading "Banks can complain all they want but Hockey’s right" »

In his new role as the self-styled Salvador Allende of the Lower North Shore, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has had an interesting couple of weeks in his battle with the banks.

He’s been teased by his opponents, white-anted by his colleagues, endured the accidental embarrassment of being labelled part of the “lunatic fringe” by Liberal backbencher Don Randall, who mistakenly assumed the call for government intervention on bank profits had come from the Greens.

Yet out there in punter-land, Joe Hockey is being hailed as a hero. Say what you like about cheap populism, it’s certainly popular.

Continue reading "Will Joe Hockey’s populism come at a price?" »

Have you ever wondered what impact our competition regulator, the ACCC, is really having? Well just ask around small business circles and you will hear the word “useless” more often than not. Perhaps small businesses are a bunch of “whingers” or perhaps they are sick and tired of feeling second rate with the ACCC not understanding how small businesses are being driven out of business as a result of anti-competitive practices by the big end of town.

And, don’t stop at small businesses. Ask motorists what they think of the ACCC and its Petrol Commissioner. Ask them if they know who the Petrol Commissioner is and what he does. Ask borrowers what they think of the ACCC decisions to allow the majors to take over St George and BankWest. Again, the words “toothless tiger” are not uncommon.

Now that’s really sad as the ACCC should command respect, and fear in potential wrongdoers. Clearly, the ACCC should be a world class competitition regulator. It’s staff members are professional and many have been there a long time.

Continue reading "Our toothless consumer watchdog" »

Attempting to make political capital out of interest rates is a risky business. It’s so tempting for both governments and oppositions to have a go at it, but invariably it ends up like some kind of disastrous military quagmire from which you must make a humiliating retreat.

:

Joe Hockey’s demands that the Government step in to stop banks raising interest rates above the levels set by the Reserve Bank is a big and risky play. He could ask his former Prime Minister John Howard about its dangers. Howard’s famous statement that “interest rates would always be lower under a Coalition Government” came back to bite him in 2007 when rates rose right in the middle of an election campaign. 

Hockey has been immediately embarrassed by the reaction of one Liberal MP to the prospect. Liberal MP Don Randall was asked about idea this morning, and not knowing it came from Hockey said this:

Continue reading "Hockey’s big dangerous play on interest rates" »

Does anyone else have a creepy feeling about the strength of the Australian economy?

I can’t seem to shake the sensation that we’re all in some kind of 80s teen horror film: all dancing to the drum machine at summer camp with a frothing cup of beer in one arm and the entire cheerleading team in the other. This is of course moments Jason returns from the dead once more – announcing his entrance to the party by beheading the captain of the football team with an efficient slash of his machete.

If you think this overly pessimistic just remember all good things end: the record high Dow Jones Industrial Average was recorded on this date, October 11 2007, on day high 14,198.10 points. Almost exactly one year later, October 10 2008, the you have the largest intra day point swing on the Dow Jones since 1987, of 1,018.77, that day the market hits a low of 7,882.51 points.

Continue reading "What does Martin Place think of the Aussie economy?" »

If the worst of the global financial crisis is behind us and Wayne Swan’s bank deposit guarantee no longer exists, why are many Australians still fighting with investment firms over frozen funds which have been locked away for almost two years? 

The government’s bank deposit guarantee, introduced at the height of the financial crisis, was meant to stabilise financial markets and restore the flow of credit.  It covered all deposits of banks but excluded investment funds.  This triggered a lockdown of deposits in investment funds and left hundreds of thousands of Australians in the lurch. 

When the government decided to remove the bank deposit guarantee in March this year, sighting improved conditions in the banking sector, many expected it to facilitate the release of frozen funds, particularly those smaller funds held by ordinary Australians.  This decision was a sign and an expectation that things would start to return to normal. 

Continue reading "Give me my money back" »

With the Commonwealth Bank announcing a record profit last week you have to wonder if the big banks are laughing all the way to bank at consumer’s expense. What are struggling Aussie families with mortgages to make of the ever growing profits by the big banks and warnings from bank CEOs to expect more interest rate rises?

Well, consumers and Aussie families need to be really upset at the failure of the Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan and the ACCC to protect competition in the banking sector. Wayne Swan and the ACCC just stood by and let the major banks take out vigorous competitors.

This failure has allowed the four major banks to increase their stranglehold of the banking sector to such dangerous levels that the major banks can now just increase interest rates and fees at will.

Continue reading "Big banks laughing all the way to the… bank" »

An unassuming bank manager who went missing in North Queensland is alleged to have made “full and frank admissions” to police about a missing $3 million from the community bank in which he worked.

The disappearance and subsequent arrest of bank manager Colin Carleton is a kind of crime story more fascinating than a heist pulled off by a gang of hardened criminals. The Courier Mail reports that Carelton is widely described as “quiet, down-to-earth, family man”.

Carleton’s alleged theft only came to light in the last few months, and is thought have taken place over a decade. He was due to meet with private investigators looking at financial irregularities at his Bendigo Community Bank when he disappeared on July 13, last seen going for a trail bike ride in the Herberton Ranges.

Continue reading "Election-Free Zone: the man who wasn’t there" »

An open letter to Mr. Greg Bartlett, Chief Executive St. George Bank. Dear Greg,

I used to like St. George. I liked his work against that dragon back in the day, I liked the fact that they let my footy team win the 1975 Grand Final, I like Julie Anthony – I’m pretty sure my mum has some of her records.

I don’t like your bank’s customer service phone line any more.

Continue reading "Your call is important to us, please don’t lose your mind" »

I think I’m with the miners – just why did the Prime Minister and Treasurer let the banks and finance groups off the hook when it came to tax reform and revenues for the common good?

As one mining industry guy said this week, there’s a whole part of the banking and finance sector involved in ‘moving money around and not creating anything of value’, and which does not pull its weight in revenue generation for the common good.

I’m surprised that a Government, that’s more than willing to run on the theme of ‘nasty foreign extraction companies taking our wealth offshore’, couldn’t have come up with an anti-banks campaign.

Continue reading "Forget the nasty miners PM, what about the banks?" »

The public is doing it. Even the PM is doing it. And the workforce don’t get a fair deal either. No matter how hard we try to warm to them, we just can’t help resenting the banks.

A new survey out today shows that the level of satisfaction with banks is low and that 63% people think that banks are getting worse at balancing profits and affordability.

Is it just another version of a national tall poppy syndrome, or are banks like those irritating over-achievers at school who just rubbed us up the wrong way for being obnoxious and successful? Or maybe there is a more simple reason – they can’t help acting badly.

Continue reading "Top 5 reasons we all love to hate the banks" »

If it wasn’t enough that Australians consistently face some of the fastest growing food prices in the developed world as a result of the dominance of Coles and Woolworths, the major banks have decided to join the price gouging club.

With the Commonwealth Bank showing strong profit growth and Westpac announcing a profit upgrade, it’s clear the four major banks are some of most profitable in the world. Profitable banks are a good thing I hear you say. Yes, but profiteering banks are not a good thing for the economy and consumers. When does profitable become profiteering?

Simple. It’s when competition has diminished to a point where the four major banks can raise interest rates at will. It’s competition that keeps everyone honest and where that competition is removed the remaining players can price gouge. It doesn’t take an economics degree to work that out.

Continue reading "Sit back and enjoy as the four banks gouge you" »

According to numerous make-believe statisticians, there’s a 99.9% chance that you think banks are bastards. This obviously means whenever you see a bank advertisement, you’ll roll your eyes thinking, do they actually do half of the things they promise to do?

Here at The Punch, we’ve done the hard work. We visited five of Australia’s major banks in a “taste test” of their front-line customer service, to see whether it fit with the claims of their multi-million dollar marketing campaigns.

Is it scientific? Not at all. Fair? Nope. And it doesn’t review or take into account specific product details - so you can’t tell from this bank which suits your needs best. (David Koch addresses some of those questions in his first column on The Punch today here.) But it does paint a picture of actual service received. And the winner is ...

Continue reading "Service from a bunch of bankers" »

How long have you been with your bank? When was the last time you switched all your accounts to another bank?

If you’re like most Australians the answer will either be “never” or “years ago”.

And there’s your reason why bank service will never be quite up to scratch. It’s us. We’re bank suckers. We talk about how banks treat us, and the poor level of service, but that’s all we do. Talk.

Continue reading "Rebelling against banks can make them lift their game" »

I recently attended the opening of the Templestowe Community Bank in my electorate. As a result of more than two years hard work by local traders and residents, the village has a bank for the first time in over a decade.

The branch was the 248th to open under the Bendigo Community Bank umbrella, one of the great local success stories of the past decade across Australia.

As the big banks closed their branches, and forced people to use ATMs and online services, many local communities lost an important institution. In some rural areas, this was devastating. In most, it caused considerable inconvenience to local residents.

Continue reading "Save money this year because thrift isn’t a four letter word" »

So banking is like bananas.  And facing a storm like the tragic one in Queensland a few years back that hit banana growers hard.  Or so says the following Westpac video.

Some people think it was silly.  Condescending, even.  Maybe they think a disaster caused by banks isn’t the same as one caused by nature.
Me, I don’t think it’s silly. Like Forrest Gump said, life is like a box of chocolates.  Except now it’s like a banana smoothie.

Continue reading "Westpac: Yes, we have no bananas" »

Over the past few years Westpac CEO Gail Kelly has been the lucky beneficiary of some of the mushiest anti-journalism in the land.

Going back through the clipping files is, to use a cliché, a veritable orgy of cliché. Kelly has been hailed as the supermum, the platinum-haired beauty, a woman of steely resolve, who is always immaculately turned-out, a passionate advocate of work-life balance, someone who is quietly reinventing the way business is done with a more compassionate, family-minded approach to corporate conduct.

When she was appointed as CEO in August 2007, one female journalist shouted excitedly at the press conference: “There’s hope for us yet!”. There is hope you yet, girls, if your idea of equality is seeing female chief executives demonstrate that they can be every bit as foolish and as flint-hearted as their overwhelmingly male equivalents.

Continue reading "So much for Gail Kelly’s innate feminine compassion" »

Credit card bill hurt?  Rate hikes hitting the mortgage payments?  Tired of endless waits on hold or in your local branch?

Fret not.  It’s all for a cause. Not yours, of course.  Our big banks.  Why, they’re so grown up, it’s like bonus season on Wall Street.  Makes you proud to be an Aussie.
Sure, wage increases for bank workers hover around 1-2 per cent. Yes, 5000 jobs have been off-shored. True, dividends are down 20 per cent. But spare a thought for Cameron Clyne, CEO of NAB.  He only made $14,246 a day last year.  A pygmy among the seven or eight figure giants - if you don’t include smaller banks like ME.

Continue reading "Please, dig deep for our bank chief executives" »

With the 4 major banks pushing up interest rates at will and the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, looking increasingly impotent when trying to bring them into line, it’s clear that competition in the banking sector is being killed off quickly and dramatically to the detriment of struggling Australian families.

So, what’s killing off competition in the banking sector?

Well, the answer is the same as to what’s killing off competition in groceries, liquor and petrol; just to name a few.

Continue reading "Why do the big four banks rule? Go to the supermarket" »

Australia’s momentary brush with recession is over. After less than twelve months we are now leading the world out of what was meant to be the crash of the century.

For a year, we have scratched our heads at the demise of others, cowered from the collapse that never came and frolicked with hand-outs. Just as we all had our glasses out for another free drink, suddenly it’s time to clean up after the party, count the debt and pay it off.

The world’s economies move like a cycling pack; uneventful until someone takes a fall.

Continue reading "The Rudd-free account of how we dodged the downturn" »

With a growing feeling that the worst of the global financial crisis may be behind us, it’s a good time to have a look at the competition landscape in our banking sector.

Sadly for consumers it not a pretty sight as in just under 2 years we have seen the 4 major banks dramatically and significantly increase their dominance in the sector to the detriment of consumers.

The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, in particular, have shot in front of the NAB and ANZ to leave them and the smaller regional banks well and truly behind in the race to dominate Australia’s banking sector. Is the increased dominance of the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac something to be pleased about?

Continue reading "The GFC killed competition to the big four banks" »

Ten years ago I had the good fortune of sitting next to Paul “The Chief” Harragon, hardman for the Newcastle Knights rugby league team

We shared a generally enjoyable conversation until discussions turned to a player who had become the media focus for – what else – excessive drinking.

Harragon was genuinely staggered that the drinking exploits of a league star would make tabloid fodder.

“If a plumber goes out and has a few to many,” he said, “no-one thinks of writing that up in a newspaper.”

Continue reading "Binge-drinking, boob-jobs and the black art of spin" »