While global leaders (we use the term very loosely) gather in the trendy French town of Cannes to ruminate on the myriad problems caused by too much debt, Aussie banks are still reaping the benefits of an increasing Australian debt.
November 3rd, 2011 | Greg Canavan | 6 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "Westpac"
Big Four Aussie Banks Used Financial Crisis to Expand Control Over Mortgage Market
Does this leave the Big Four exposed to just one incredibly important asset class? Well at least two of the Big Four might lose some sleep over it at night. Commonwealth Bank has 65% of its loan book tied up in household mortgages, according to Eric Johnston in the Age.
April 12th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 85 comments | Continued
Property and the Big Four Australian Banks
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 | Continued
A Loss is Not a Loss if You Turn Debt into Equity
The yoke of debt may have felt light until now. But the lash of higher rates on the back will definitely be noticeable. Let’s just hope it doesn’t break the financial back of a whole generation of home buyers, although this is what we fear “bringing forward demand” will do.
March 24th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 15 comments | Continued
Historians May Write: In Order to Save Greece, it Was Necessary to Destroy the Euro
The bigger story is that Greece hasn’t been abandoned by the rest of Europe…yet. Europe could probably leave Greece behind and preserve the integrity (such as it is) of the euro as a sound currency. But 50 years of harping on about social justice and economic harmony and humane capitalism is going to make it hard for policymakers to leave Greece to its own devices.
February 17th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 19 comments | Continued
It All Comes Down to Debt Again for NAB
NAB came by the bonds because it accepted them as collateral for what it described as an “interbank reverse repurchase agreement.” Got that? From what we can gather, NAB may be obligated to take on certain loan obligations of its bank partner “under certain circumstances.”
December 22nd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Have Things Turned the Corner for Funding Aussie Mortgage Growth?
It’s probably too early to say. The Australian Office of Financial Management continues to support the market for non-bank lenders. Non-bank lenders have to fund new loans via securtisation. Without the AOFM’s backing, you have to wonder how many first home buyers would have been able to find housing finance.
December 21st, 2009 | Dan Denning | 25 comments | Continued
Bond Scam Perpetrated by Money-grubbing Government
So how does a government fund its spending programs if global creditors begin to turn to other assets? Well, it can have its own central bank “monetise the debt.” But having the central bank buy government bonds with new money is a sure-fire path to currency depreciation and higher interest rates.
November 23rd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Inflation is Evident If You Just Follow the Money
One quick note about this: there is obviously plenty of inflation in the prices you pay every day. But most consumer price indices are rigged to understate inflation, as our colleague David Evans pointed out yesterday in Canberra at the Gold Standard Institute conference in Canberra. Trimmed medians…hedonic adjustments…
November 2nd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
Perhaps This Recession Will Be One for the Ages After All
In today’s Daily Reckoning, we’ll review the contradictory claims. We’ll also tell you what Alan Greenspan whispered in our ear the other night about gold, inflation, and the bond market. And we’ll ask more stupid questions about government.
April 16th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 13 comments | Continued
Possible Second Round of Panic Hitting Financial Markets
But what about Main Street, what’s going on there? According to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer index released yesterday, Australians were exactly 8.3% more confident in early April than they were in April March. See what a dose of low petrol prices, declining interest rates, and government cash can do for you?
April 9th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 14 comments | Continued
The Trouble With Banks
Meanwhile, there is not much we can tell you that you don’t already know about the global rout in stocks. Wall Street is at twelve- year lows. The FTSE is at six-year lows. And here in Australia the market has opened lower than its five-year low, as you’d expect after such a wretched overnight performance on global markets.
March 3rd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 6 comments | Continued
