Poll finds 28 of 30 economists expect central bank to keep cash rate steady at 4.35%. Follow the day’s news live
Good morning, and happy Tuesday.
I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be with you on the blog today – many thanks to Martin for kicking things off.
Continue reading...Apra finds country’s banks may be more vulnerable to economic downturns as they face threefold increase in lending losses
Banks expect to reduce lending to households and businesses in northern Australia and to fossil fuel industries across the country as the risk of losses due to the climate crisis escalates, the industry regulator says.
A new report by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra) found climate change could make banks more vulnerable to economic downturns as they face up to a threefold increase in lending losses by 2050, but that the system should be able to absorb the impact.
Continue reading...Judge says bank ‘utterly failed to address the issues systematically’ as its total penalties for misconduct rise to $130m
Westpac has been fined $40m for charging fees to more than 11,800 dead people, bringing the total the federal court has ordered the bank to pay in a string of misconduct cases brought by the corporate regulator to $130m.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission launched the six cases against Westpac in November, accusing the bank of charging financial advice service fees to the dead, double-charging for insurance, collecting and paying illegal commissions, failing to properly disclose fees, allowing company accounts that should have been closed to stay open and selling personal debts to collectors at an interest rate higher than allowed.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands of buyers allegedly paid as much as three times the normal bank interest rate when arranging finance through a car dealer
Law firm Maurice Blackburn has launched a class action lawsuit against Westpac on behalf of hundreds of thousands of car buyers who were sold vehicle loans under a deal that allegedly allowed dealers to secretly pocket vast commission payments.
Dealers were able to maximise commissions Westpac and its subsidiary, St George, paid them for selling the loans by charging some customers as much as three times the bank’s going interest rate, it is claimed.
Continue reading...Bank files its defence to an Austrac lawsuit that accuses it of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws
Westpac has admitted to breaking the law by failing to monitor whether a dozen customers were making transactions consistent with child exploitation.
The admission is contained in Westpac’s defence to a lawsuit brought by Australia’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, in which the bank is accused of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws.
Continue reading...Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live
And here is another indication of where question time is headed:
Last week, a bank broke money laundering laws 23 million times.
But instead of going after them, the Liberals are going after unions – trying to take away their right to exist.
This Government hates working people. We'll fight them every step of the way. pic.twitter.com/9vMhFquk4W
A group of north Queensland dairy farmers are on their way to Canberra to express their frustrations at what is happening within their industry.
That’s at the same time the Nationals are trying to get ahead of Pauline Hanson, who may have come late to the issues, but certainly has been running full steam ahead since becoming aware of it.
David Littleproud, the drought minister, some time ago said he fixed the supermarket [milk price] problem. He said he thumped his chest, waved his fists at them, and demanded they put their milk prices up.
Well, we know that solution lasted about five minutes.
Continue reading...The Westpac scandal has brought the role of financial institutions in enabling child sexual abuse into sharp relief
On 25 October plainclothes police barged through the red door of a family home in a dense neighbourhood in Rizal, a province two hours away from Manila.
There they arrested a mother who was allegedly sexually exploiting her own 12-year-old daughter. The 45-year-old woman was clutching her phone. Police took it and then handcuffed her.
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