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.
Via Banking Day: The plaintiff law firm said the class action was being run in the Federal Court on behalf of people who, after 1 January 2011, were given “unsuitable loans” by Westpac, in breach of its responsible lending obligations. …Principal lawyer and managing partner with Maurice Blackburn, Ben Slade, said: “This case will seek
Via Banking Day: APRA fronted the Senate Economics Legislation Committee – better known as the Senate estimates committee – yesterday and covered a grab-bag of topics, with the overarching theme that this year will be a much tougher brand of regulation. APRA and ASIC will need to be tougher, in order to justify a raft
The housing panic has set in for the incoming government, via the AFR: Labor will outbid the Coalition on banks today by promising a vastly more generous compensation scheme for victims of financial service wrongdoing, including payments of up to $2 million for individuals and small businesses. …It will announce the lender will pay an
By Leith van Onselen Westpac will face a class action in the federal court for issuing home loans that breached responsible lending rules. From SBS News: Westpac is facing a class action for allegedly giving loans to people who couldn’t afford to pay them back. The class action, in the Federal Court, is the first
Via the AFR today: Industry sources said one of Labor’s proposals was that the lender paid the broker a flat fee regardless of the size of the loan, rather than a fee that is a percentage of the loan. This change would discourage brokers talking people into borrowing more than they need to increase the
But records are made to be broken. Via S&P: Australian Prime Home Loan Delinquencies Rose In December; 90-Plus Days Arrears Hit Record High MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 20, 2019–Australian prime home-loan arrears rose in December, according to a recently published report by S&P Global Ratings. The Standard & Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN) for Australian
Via the AFR: The chief executives of the four big banks will be made to face Parliament twice a year to report on progress in implementing the banking royal commission reforms, as part of a boosted accountability regime Labor will introduce if it wins the election. As well, the banks, the regulators ASIC and APRA
Not involved in any succession arrangements: Emigration looms as an option.
By Leith van Onselen The CEO of consumer advocacy group Choice, Alan Kirkland, has penned an enlightening article lashing the mortgage broking industry, claiming it is using the same dirty tricks deployed by the advice industry when it was forced to move from a commissions-based model under the FoFA reforms: Within hours of the final
Via ANZ’s new profits release: As I noted last week, ANZ had indeed led the specufestor clamp down: It’s a great shame they’re turning that around. That said, I do not expect it to make much difference to systemic growth. I was thinking of rewarding the bank with my own business. No longer.
By Leith van Onselen The mortgage broker locusts continue to swarm politicians over the Hayne Royal Commission’s recommendation to overhaul mortgage broking from a commission-based to a user-pays system. The head of the country’s biggest retail mortgage broker, Aussie Home Loans chief James Symond, is mobilising brokers across Australia to lobby politicians to retain the
By Leith van Onselen Westpac has announced its Q1 trading update, which revealed a flat profit result: Westpac also posted a slight uptick in mortgage delinquencies: However, 90+ day delinquencies rose sharply, driven by WA: Whereas the share of interest-only mortgages fell sharply to 32% from 46% in September 2017:
By Leith van Onselen While all the focus has been on the housing credit crunch and the sharp slowdown in mortgage lending, it’s easy to miss the fact that personal lending has also taken a hammering, falling for more than three consecutive years: Now there are fears that in the fallout from the banking royal
Via AFR: Many more voters trust Labor than the Coalition to implement the recommendations of the banking royal commission, according to a poll that also shows Josh Frydenberg and his rival Chris Bowen level-pegging as the nation’s preferred treasurer. The latest The Australian Financial Review-Ipsos poll, the first for this political year, shows almost half
Do not expect any loosening of credit in this cycle, via AFR: The corporate regulator’s chief prosecutor, Daniel Crennan, QC, has warned the government has empowered him to pursue “extremely harsh civil penalties and criminal sanctions against banks, their executives and others” after the Senate passed tough new rules for white-collar offences. Corporate executives could
By Leith van Onselen Consumer groups have lashed the mortgage broking industry for pretending to care about reform while vigorously lobbying politicians to protect their commissions. From SBS News: The consumer groups that were part of a forum with the mortgage-broking industry have quit en masse, citing a lack of progress and willingness to change.
Via The Australian: Ken Henry is nothing if not staunch in his self-belief. His friends have often described him as the “great oak” – the stronger the wind blew, the harder he pushed back. For months since a disastrous appearance before the Hayne banking royal commission last year, Henry was convinced that he had done
Via AFR: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released updated guidance on how banks should verify customers living expenses before lending, to meet its expectations regarding the responsible lending laws. Lenders using the Household Expenditure Measurement (HEM) as a benchmark will need to apply a “reasonable buffer” reflecting the benchmark is too low.
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) clearly does not trust APRA to do its job and protect the economy. Because the RBNZ has launched a proposal to raise tier 1 regulatory capital held by the banks to 16%: Under the proposal, over five years or so, banks’ Tier 1 capital
If you thought the banks were about release the spiggot on credit think again, via the AFR: The federal government has told the banks and regulators there will be a fresh industry inquiry in three years to ensure they have improved their behaviour and are treating customers better. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wrote this week to
From SBS News: Bankers found guilty of serious corporate crimes could be jailed for up to 15 years and shonky corporations may face fines of up to $525 million, under legislation proposed by Labor. In the wake of the damning banking royal commission, the federal party wants to significantly increase penalties against financial institutions who
Well…of course it does. It doesn’t have any branches to distribute its mortgages, via The Australian: Macquarie chief Shemara Wikramanayake has backed the role mortgage brokers play for borrowers, acknowledging that the Hayne royal commission would prompt smaller banks to rethink distribution and more closely assess what customers would pay for loans. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s
It shouldn’t because he’s talking nonsense. Via Bluenotes: The fall in Australian house prices in 2018 was the largest since the financial crisis. But the implications for the broader economy are more important. It’s even possible that weaker house prices and a weaker economy combine into a negative feedback loop (although in my view this is unlikely). “All previous periods of declining
Funny stuff in a carrion comfort kind of way, via AFR: Existing owner-occupier variable rates with principal and interest payments will rise by six basis points and those with interest only by 16 basis points. The hikes, which apply from February 21, impact all loan to value (LVR) bands. As mortgages and house prices crash.
This is a new low in political economy stupid: Mortgage brokers are a con. Their brand of competition is simply to destroy lending standards and fuel absurd property prices out of which they take massive and conflicted trailing commissions. UBS research found that brokers “a statistically significantly higher level of factual inaccuracy via the broker
By Leith van Onselen Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave a National Press Club address yesterday, where he defended the mortgage broking industry against the Hayne Royal Commission’s recommendation to overhaul mortgage broking from a commission-based to a user-pays system: “The mortgage brokers understand, with the cautious way we’ve responded to the report, that we understand
By Leith van Onselen The mortgage broker locusts continue to swarm the Hayne Royal Commission’s recommendation to overhaul mortgage broking from a commission-based to a user-pays system. Mark Bouris – executive chairman of Yellow Brick Road – claims that the reforms will kill the mortgage broking industry, erode competition, and drive mortgage rates up: Buying
The most important economic finding of the Hayne Royal Commission is under the pump today, via Domain: The corporate regulator will ask the government to change mortgage rules that could make it harder and more expensive for borrowers to get a new home loan if it loses a landmark case against Westpac over responsible lending
Mike Baird appears to be firming as the favourite to replace Andrew Thorburn as NAB CEO, via UBS: Following the negative comments by Commissioner Hayne in the Royal Commission Final Report NAB announced the resignation of both the CEO Andrew Thorburn and Chairman Ken Henry. NAB announced that well regarded and highly experienced Phil Chronican
Professor Ian Harper has had better weeks. First, as the Reserve Bank’s micro-economic patsy, he was thrown under the interest rate bus to set up Phil Lowe’s elegant back flip with pike: The clearest indicators of ongoing momentum of Australia’s economy are strong employment growth and a rapid shift in the federal budget toward surpluses,
