Briefs: AFG integrates Veda credit reports into its platform, Citi to set up ASX unleveraged warrant
Mortgage aggregator AFG has integrated Veda credit reports and credit scores into its lending platform, Flex. Brokers can avoid using a separate interface for making credit history inquiries. Veda said in a media release that the integrated service would make it easier for brokers to meet their responsible lending obligations. Citi is to start issuing the first unleveraged warrants over Australian listed securities. Called Bonus Certificates, these warrants do not have a loan component and include some protection if they trade above a pre-determined barrier level for the entirety of the product's term. Germany, the largest European market for listed investment products, has Certificates comprising (€2.2 billion) more than half the market. Citi expects to list approximately 100 Bonus Certificates in Australia over names such as Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, BHP, as well as ETFs and indexes including the ASX 200. National Australia Bank has transferred about 65 wealth advisers from its private banking arm to JBWere, as the division seeks to focus purely on the banking needs of its 18,000 high net worth customers, the AFR reports. This comes two months after NAB snapped up the remaining 20 per cent stake in wealth group JBWere, in a deal understood to cost about $20 million. NAB bought 80 per cent of JBWere for about $99 million in 2009 from investment bank Goldman Sachs. NAB Private Wealth is dropping the "wealth" title from its name as part of the split.