Modest rise in defaults at QBE LMI

QBE on Friday said it recognised gross earned premium from its new lenders mortgage insurance business of $203 million in the year to December 2008, and up from $194 million in gross earned premium in.. read more

HBOSA bruised by property lending

A five-fold increase in impaired loans and a four-fold increase in loan write-offs have dented, but not devastated, the earnings of HBOS Australia, a banking business now owned by Lloyds TSB. read more

Phase two of the crisis

In a briefing yesterday ANZ's managing director, Mike Smith, described the global financial crisis as now being in "phase two, where we are seeing bad debts emerge from the commercial sector, and from.. read more

Bank profits safe for now

ANZ yesterday reinforced the message that there's plenty of earnings capacity, and pricing power, among Australia's leading banks, and thus for now at least little likelihood that the developing globa.. read more

Dividend cut by a quarter at ANZ

ANZ annoyed some investors and encouraged others with the announcement of the decision to cut the dividend by 25 per cent, a step that will allow the bank to retain about $500 million in capital this.. read more

APRA lessens liquidity checks

In one measure of the improved liquidity profile of banks, and of improved liquidity management practices, APRA has redeployed a special team set up to more closely monitor this aspect of bank operati.. read more

Westpac lifts hybrid to $700m

Westpac yesterday finalised pricing for its sale of hybrid securities, and succeeded in selling more than planned and setting an interest rate toward the low end of its target range. read more

Years later, AFD fined over hold backs

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered Australian Finance Direct to pay a fine of $100,000 after breaching the consumer credit code. AFD agreed to the fine. read more

Little lending at The Rock

The Rock Building Society ran down its loan book by six per cent over the year to December 2008, to $1.1 billion, as the the Rockhampton-based lender adjusts to the credit crunch and subsequent downtu.. read more

Slump strikes earnings for Wilson HTM

The capital markets or investment banking business of Wilson HTM Investment Group suffered a slump in revenues of more than 50 per cent in the half year to December 2008 and compared with a year befor.. read more