RHG announced on Monday that it has rejected an indicative takeover offer it received in February. The offer was thought to have been made by mortgage manager Resimac. RHG's announcement said discussions were continuing but the prospective bidder had been advised that its indicative offer was inadequate. Housing finance figures for January, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday, were mixed. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of owner-occupied finance commitments fell 1.5 per cent, month-on-month, while the value of commitments rose 1.3 per cent. Purchases of new dwellings were up 2.3 per cent and there was a 4.4 per cent increase in the value of investment loans. The Australian Financial Review reports that the chief executive of Citbank Australia, Roy Gori, has been promoted to the dual roles of head of retail banking for Asia and head of consumer for north Asia. Gori has run Citi's local retail operation for the past five years. He will be based in Sydney but said he would send most of his time in Asia. Bankwest has been the subject of a stinging attack in the Senate, according to a report in The Australian. National Party senator, John Williams, said the Commonwealth Bank subsidiary should be treating its customers as human beings and not as numbers. Williams detailed several cases of what he calmed was heavy-handed treatment by the bank. Bankwest was sold to CBA by HBOS in 2008 and Williams said the problems with customers were a result of a subsequent "clean-up" of the Bankwest book.