MacroBusiness covers Australian banks from the perspective of their macro-economic role, as political economy actors, as investment propositions and in terms of financial stability and capital adequacy. Australian banks have played a crucial role in inflating the Australian property bubble, exist within an utterly privileged position as “too big to fail” institutions and operate within a deeply distorted financial architecture that has Australian tax payers well and truly on the hook in the event of trouble. MacroBusiness seeks to define this role for investors as well as change it in the name of the Australian national interest.
Yesterday we saw regulatory capture out in the open at the AFR: Westpac has unleashed a fresh wave of property lending by relaxing serviceability conditions on low risk home loans, immediately increasing the borrowing capacity of aspiring home owners by as much as 8 per cent. A spokesman for Westpac confirmed the policy change saying credit officers
Via the AFR: Westpac has unleashed a fresh wave of property lending by relaxing serviceability conditions on low risk home loans, immediately increasing the borrowing capacity of aspiring home owners by as much as 8 per cent. A spokesman for Westpac confirmed the policy change saying credit officers would now have the discretion to approve principal
Honestly, our regulators are the biggest pack of no-hopers, via the AFR: The psychologist inserted by the corporate regulator into boardroom discussions of more than 20 blue-chip companies including Qantas, Woolworths and AMP warns that Australia’s financial sector culture is broken. Elizabeth Arzadon, the regulator’s psychologist of choice, also warns that resistance by boards to
APRA released quarterly ADI property exposures yesterday. It is a great guide to many things but I use it mostly to track interest only mortgages. The good news is that the interest only mortgage bubble that drove the last leg up in Australian house prices is now massively de-risked. The March quarter saw IO mortgage
Dr Wilson N. Sy, – the former head of research for APRA, and executive at ASIC and the Australian Treasury – has published a paper attacking the “farce of fake regulation” after it was exposed by the banking royal commission. Below is the extract: The revelations from the Hayne Royal Commission (HRC, 2019), limited though
Via S&P: Australian prime home-loan arrears rose in April, according to a recently published report by S&P Global Ratings. The Standard & Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN) for Australian prime mortgages, rose to 1.53% in April from 1.51% a month earlier. Arrears in April were up 17 basis points year on year. Arrears were mostly up
Via the AFR: From Monday, NAB said it was introducing new guidelines for Bank of Mum and Dad that “complements the law and, in some areas, sets higher standards”. …Under NAB’s new controls, loan guarantors will face improved scrutiny of their suitability by providing more information about how it will impact their finances and awareness
Via the excellent Jonathon Mott at UBS: We estimate the RBA rate cuts and APRA’s removal of its interest rate serviceability floor may improve maximum borrowing capacity by around 14%. However, these changes need to be considered in the context of ongoing tightening, in particular a new HEM methodology, the rollout of Comprehensive Credit Reporting
From Martin North [my emphasis]: The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its response to the first round of consultation on proposed changes to the capital framework for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). The package of proposed changes, first released in February last year, flows from the finalised Basel III reforms, as well as the Financial
Via Banking Day: Bendigo Bank is among many lenders rationing any flow on from last week’s 25 basis point slice in the RBA cash rate. Better or badder at the big end of banking, Bendigo has reasons. On Friday Bendigo said it would decrease its variable interest rates by 0.20 per cent p.a. for all
Chanticleer is at it again today: At the end of a huge week for the big four banks, it’s time for those reliant on dividend income to think hard about the longer-term implications of official interest rates being lower for longer. There is no need to panic. But as official rates set by the Reserve Bank
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) proposal to impose higher capital requirements on the local arms of Australian banks has been defended by John Vickers, the Bank of England’s former chief economist. He argues that the public benefit of safer banks outweighs any risks associated with such a move. Vickers
Welcome back to the good times, via Banking Day: While ANZ bore the full brunt of the public backlash, ING appears to have escaped scrutiny of its move to pass on only a 17 basis point cut to new borrowers. ING’s actions are potentially more egregious than those of ANZ and Westpac because thousands of
Via The Australian: Forget the radioactive fallout from the Hayne royal commission — the nation’s four major banks have a bigger problem to worry about right now. If New Zealand’s all-powerful regulator Adrian Orr has his way, the big four will be passing the hat around for the next five years to raise an extra
Via the excellent Jonathon Mott at UBS: Scenario 1 – ‘Bounce-back’: A recovery in housing lending flow (+20%) back to record levels would add 2.2% to housing credit growth (1.5% to EPSg). But this would likely give rise to a sharp bounce in house prices and household debt. Stimulatory policies would likely be reversed. Scenario
By Leith van Onselen At a press conference yesterday, RBNZ Governor, Adrian Orr, publicly lashed the New Zealand Bankers’ Association (NZBA) for claiming that taxpayers should bail the sector out in the event of a crisis, and has used these comments as justification for the RBNZ’s capital reforms. From Interest.co.nz: Orr was answering a question about
The pressure is on from the property adoring press: Experts expect the major banks to pass on most, if not all, of a one-quarter of a percentage point drop in the official cash rate to 1.25 per cent at Tuesday’s meeting, which financial markets estimate is an 86 per cent chance. “They should pass it through,” said
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released its latest Financial Stability Report (FSR), which explained why banks need to hold more capital: Domestically, debt levels are high in the household and dairy sectors, leaving borrowers and lenders exposed to unanticipated events. Similar challenges exist globally, given current high public
Via the AFR: The number of borrowers seeking home loans from Commonwealth Bank surged to its highest level in more than six months on the back of the Coalition’s surprise federal election win. CBA chief executive Matt Comyn said while he expects the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut the cash rate next Tuesday, a
By Leith van Onselen Queensland couple Ian and Michelle Tate are the lead litigants in a class action being brought against Westpac by law firm Maurice Blackburn. The class action alleges that Westpac was overly-reliant on benchmarks when assessing mortgage loan applicants. The Tates, who lost over $430,000 on two investment properties, are blaming Westpac,
Via Martin North: The Bank Bill Swap Rate continues to track down, which means that Banks are sitting on considerable funding advantage, which is being used to discount attractor mortgage rates. However, there is a strong case now for banks to reverse their out of cycle rate hikes imposed on borrowers over recent months, irrespective
While Australia’s captured prudential regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), is busy cutting lending standards, in the form of the shredded interest rates buffer, just months after the Hayne Royal Commission lambasted Australia’s banks for shoddy lending, and just five months after APRA said is was permanent. The head of Canada’s state-run mortgage insurer,
Via banking legend Ian Rogers today: Self-disclosures around the Australian banking industry’s post-CBA “self-assessment” challenge range in quality between dismal and dire. Or, in APRA’s own words: “Poor” and “moderate” are the best that can be said for the “quality” of these assessments” by nine Australian banks in a humiliating information paper from APRA yesterday
The Hayne Royal Commission is quickly disappearing in the rear view mirror, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg meeting with senior APRA officials to craft the government’s response. From SBS News: Mr Frydenberg met with Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority deputy chairs Helen Rowell and John Lonsdale in Sydney, just days after the Morrison government was returned to
Over the past year there has an ongoing debate about Australia’s little financial crisis. It was the dramatic widening of bank-to-bank funding costs. Coats starting falling as the Hayne Royal Commission wound up. Westpac explained the spread compression then by observing an abundance of cash: Is the lack of a March “turn” a sign of things
Cross-posted from The Conversation: Will the banking services royal commission have a lasting effect of improving the banking and financial sector? The answer is “no”. A temporary change is apparent, but the problems lie deeper than those addressed by the royal commissioner. The worldwide pervasiveness of financial sector misconduct is an indication. This is not a
Via S&P: Australian prime home-loan arrears rose in March, according to a recently published report by S&P Global Ratings. The Standard & Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN) for Australian prime mortgages increased to 1.51% in March from 1.48% a month earlier. Arrears are up by 14 basis points year on year. Across the country, arrears movements
Via Banking Day: ANZ in New Zealand has been rebuked by the Reserve Bank, with the RBNZ on Friday announcing that it “revoked ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited’s accreditation to model its own operational risk capital requirement due to a persistent failure in its controls and attestation process”. ANZ NZ is now required to use
Macquarie has dug into the bank’s negative equity reporting and found, guess what, chaos: ANZ’s negative equity data was the highest of the big four at 5 per cent, or 4.25 per cent when offset accounts are factored in. Macquarie said ANZ’s approach – which used combined customer debt secured by property divided by property
Why this is even allowed I don’t know, via The Australian: Property chiefs have appealed directly to the Reserve Bank and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority during a private meeting for a loosening of the strict lending policies imposed on banks, as a credit squeeze starts to bite key parts of the industry. Their input
