Finally, Financial System Inquiry chairman, David Murray, has brought some consistency into two hot debates running in finance. Parliament, financial media commentators and a whole range of vested interests…
- Vice Chancellor's Fellow at Victoria University and Adjunct Professor of Economics, Victoria University
Banks borrow short and lend long. So if all of a bank’s depositors suddenly want their money, the bank would be unable to pay them. A bank may have made great loans but it can only unwind these loans slowly…
Following its stepped up year-long review of European banks, the European Central Bank this weekend failed 25 of the 130 banks it tested on the strength of their capital buffers to protect against a downturn…
After a lot of un-edifying debate about particular proposals about financial advice we can now stand back and look at the sector with more calm. The fundamental problem is that it is very hard to give…
Australia’s financial system is competitive and well regulated, but more work is required to boost superannuation competition, according to the interim report of the Financial System Inquiry, led by former…
Revelations by whistleblower organisation Wikileaks of secret global negotiations to further deregulate global financial services, has led to speculation that such pact could signal the end of Australia’s…
The debate about opening Australian universities to competition has so far been dominated by discussions about fees. While this is of particular interest to students whose education will receive a smaller…
The Abbott-Hockey government is continuing to budget for a deficit. This means it is pumping more spending into the economy than it is taking out. The amount of this stimulus is being reduced; the size…
Anyone who has been married knows there is a lot of compromise involved. Each party gives up something in order to get the benefits which can arise from sharing. Nobody get exactly what he or she wants…
Over 40% of mortgages in Australia are sold by mortgage brokers, not by their manufacturers - an issue that has the CEO of Australia’s fifth largest bank, Suncorp, arguing the sector is skewed towards…
One of the major recommendations made by the 1997 Wallis Inquiry into banking was to establish a prudential regulator for the financial sector separate from the Reserve Bank of Australia. The new regulator…
Financial markets love to come up with snappy acronyms – you have all heard of BRICS, but there are many others, with the “fragile five” being the latest. The BIITS - Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa…
Australia’s four pillars policy is widely misunderstood. At heart, it is an anti-bank policy, one which prohibits the large banks from doing what they might like to do and that is to merge. It stops them…
High levels of government debt won’t hurt economic growth in the medium and long-term, according to a new paper released by the International Monetary Fund. The research findings contradict earlier arguments…
Australian banks are much more heavily exposed to mortgage lending than banks in most parts of the world, which is why the latest publication of APRA data on home lending has set the hares running. The…
The Australian Parliament is deadlocked on a bid by the government to increase the debt ceiling from A$300 billion to A$500 billion. The Greens have flagged a willingness to drop the ceiling entirely…
China has signalled its intention, reiterated in the recent Third Plenum, to open up its financial markets. This would be an important reform which carries significant risks and opportunities both for…
UK banking giant Barclays has revealed plans to lay off 1700 branch staff and shrink its branch network as customers embrace online and mobile banking. The street faces of banks are changing quickly. Where…
Like most companies, banks report their profits twice a year. Each time the majors report we see headlines about the size of the profits and implicit or explicit criticism of the amount – this time about…
Education Minister Christopher Pyne has confirmed the government is considering securitising Australia’s HECS debt, and has referred the issue to the Commission of Audit. This has immediately attracted…
ANZ Bank has delivered another record profit, promising shareholders a bigger dividend than expected on the back of cash earnings of A$6.49 billion. But despite the bank’s continued Australian and international…
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