There is an increasing amount of focus on the Australian residential property market. Last week, outgoing BHP Chairman Don Argus said: ‘I think the Australian Banking Sector has gone too far. You can look at some of them now as giant building societies.’ He was referring to the large exposure that the big four Australian banks have to residential property.
April 7th, 2010 | Greg Canavan | 42 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "national australia bank"
Banks Could Face Larger Asset Writedowns and Losses than IMF has Modelled
Next time around, though, we reckon the losses – when they come – will be on domestic real estate assets. And with so much exposure to domestic real estate (mortgage loans), the assets could face a world of hurt. But even if bank asset quality doesn’t crash (housing prices don’t crash), an external shock affects Aussie bank liabilities.
October 28th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
NAB Says Big Four Can’t Refinance Property Debt Without Government Help
Now we’ll find out if the 20% rally in global stocks was simply short covering and misplaced optimism, or the tentative first steps to a world-wide recovery. You know our thoughts on the matter. But the trouble with inflation is that it distorts choices and causes a man to believe that he can have more than is really possible.
April 21st, 2009 | Dan Denning | 12 comments | Continued
Future Fund ‘Borrowing’ Program Amounts to Theft
All attempts to reflate the system are failing. Leverage is collapsing. Next on the docket is a series of interest rate cuts by Central Banks. They RBA will probably lead off that global parade today at 2:30pm in Sydney. How big will the cut be? It will be 50 basis points for sure. But if the RBA really wants to make a splash-and give the banks room to pass on the reduction to borrowers-it will be a full percentage point.
October 7th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 7 comments | Continued
National Australia Bank Hasn’t Hit Bottom Yet
National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) CEO John Stewart set aside a provision of $820 million for credit risk on Friday July 25, 2008. This indicates there may be more subprime losses to come. Stewart commented, “This is the bottom for us for housing in the U.S. because we are now cleared out.” That’s quite a statement. Especially seeing as Stewart considers the US to be less than half-way through this crisis. Total losses equal US$450 million.
July 28th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
