The companies watchdog is talking to those involved in the Storm Financial collapse to see if a commercial resolution can be reached.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said in a statement on Friday that it had completed a major phase of its investigation into Storm Financial and now was entering another.

That would involve confidential discussions with the individuals and entities which were the subject of ASIC’s investigation to see whether a commercial resolution could be reached.

ASIC said a commercial resolution would be preferable to protracted litigation.

ASIC would consider launching compensation actions if a commercial resolution wasn’t possible.
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New data showing weak lending finance is evidence of an economy slowing after the government stimulus has worn off and could spare borrowers an April interest rate rise, economist says.

Total personal finance commitments fell 1.5 per cent in January, seasonally adjusted, to $6.921 billion, from $7.028 billion in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Monday.

The fixed loan component of the data fell 2.1 per cent, its fifth straight monthly fall since August 2009.

Fixed loans - or loans of a fixed amount - make up 46 per cent of total personal finance commitments.

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the data pointed to a slowing economy and could be enough to stay the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) from raising the cash rate from four to 4.25 per cent.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says it is a “reluctant regulator” of credit cards while leaving the door open to force providers to reduce interchange fees.

In a speech on Monday RBA Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey said he was not in a position to predict what the RBA board’s next decision on credit card fee regulation would be, but he said good progress was being made in promoting competition.

“The Reserve Bank is a reluctant regulator,” Dr Edey told the Cards and Payments Australasia 2010 Conference in Sydney.

“We’d prefer to see fees being held down by competition than by direct regulation.

“We believe there’s been good progress in promoting competition over recent years.
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There are signs that consumer borrowing is rising in response to better economic conditions.

Of course, too much debt can be a bad thing, as the global finance crisis reminded us all.

But a willingness to take on debt can be an important indicator for the strength of the spending that drives the economy along, generating jobs and bringing unemployment down.

The latest credit card statistics from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), released on Friday, are tentatively good news in that regard.

Total credit and charge card balances outstanding declined by 1.6 per cent to $46.152 billion in January from $46.912 billion in December.

But these figures are not seasonally adjusted - a fall is normal in January after the pre-Christmas spending binge in December has wound down.
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Greater Building Society says it will begin providing home loans at a lower rate than the big four banks, as it seeks to lure away regional customers.

Greater, which has the largest branch network of any building society in Australia, will start providing home loans from Monday and is establishing operations in Townsville as part of its expansion plans.

Greater chief executive Don Magin says people in regional Australia could benefit from having a home loan with Greater.

“We want people to know that there are large, safe alternatives like the Greater that can offer people very competitive rates, low fees and far better customer service than the banks,” Mr Magin said in a statement on Friday.
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Movements on credit card interest rates by the big four banks over two years show banks have kept 85 per cent of the net benefit gained from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) interest rate cuts.

By March 1 the net impact of the RBA’s movements in the official cash rate over the last two years was a 3.5 per cent decline from the cycle’s high of 7.25 per cent in March 2008.

While banks passed on the majority of the RBA’s interest rate cuts to home loan borrowers, data from financial comparison website RateCity shows the big four kept 85 per cent, on average, of the net gains of the interest rate movements from credit card borrowers.

A comparison of movements in interest rates charged on both standard and low-rate personal credit cards over the past two years showed the net impact of rate hikes and cuts was an average drop of just 0.5 per cent.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to raise interest rates in this month has failed to dent consumer confidence, a report says.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose 0.3 index points in March to 117.3 points, an increase of 0.2 per cent.

The RBA lifted the cash rate 25 basis points to 4.0 per cent, from 3.75 per cent, at its March board last week.

It was the fourth rate hike since October last year.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said it was a “solid result given he backdrop of an official rate rise”.
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Market leading non-bank financial services group, Aussie, has launched an exciting promise to customers that if they are not impressed by an Aussie broker’s service they will be paid $100.

The “Aussie Promise to Impress” builds on Aussie’s reputation for offering customers highly personalised mortgage broking service which translates into a better deal by meeting their needs.

Aussie’s founder and executive chairman Mr John Symond said the Aussie Promise was targeted at customers who are interested in using a broker or bank customers looking for a reason to switch in order to get a more personalised service for their home loan needs.
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Many would-be home buyers have given up the dream of home ownership, hit by a triple whammy of rising interest rates, tougher lending conditions and an end to the federal government’s more generous grant.

A survey by mortgage broker Loan Market found 28 per cent of respondents said they had put off their home buying plans indefinitely, while 32 per cent said they were trying to save for a larger deposit.

The online survey of 260 potential first time home buyers found 33 per cent of respondents were still looking to buy a property this year.
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Investors have returned from summer holidays to grab their largest share of housing loans since at least 2004, according to a survey by a mortgage broker.

Australian Finance Group (AFG), which claims over 10 per cent of the mortgage market, said on Tuesday that 34.1 per cent of all mortgages it arranged nationally in February were for property investors.

That was the highest proportion for investors recorded in the six-year history of AFG’s survey of its brokers’ activity.
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Business confidence and conditions strengthened in February a four month high, but growth remains below the highs seen in late 2009, a survey shows.

But businesses were caught unprepared for the surge in February, as inventories declined and hiring slowed.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) business confidence index gained four points to plus-19 points in February.

It was the survey’s highest level since November 2009 when it also touched plus 19 points, which at the time was a seven-year high.
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Potential first homebuyers are giving up their search each time lenders hike interest rates on home loans.

Within three days of the Reserve Bank of Australia lifting the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.0 per cent last week, 26 lenders had passed on interest rate rises on 175 home loan products, according to financial comparison website RateCity.

That prompted two per cent of potential first home buyers to halt their search, according to Australia’s biggest mortgage broker, Mortgage Choice.

Another three per cent would withdraw from the market if interest rates climbed another 75 basis points, Mortgage Choice said.
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One in five women do not trust their partner with shared finances, and nearly half believe their partner wastes money, according to a Westpac survey.

With more women than men holding the purse strings, women are being urged to tackle their money issues with their partner on International Women’s Day.

According to Westpac’s head of women’s markets Larke Riemer 36 per cent of women have more control over household money management, compared to 31 per cent of men.
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Australasia’s largest real estate and property group, Ray White, has recorded its best ever February residential sales result in Victoria.

Ray White Victorian General Manager Marcus Williams said preliminary statewide sales figures for February totalled in excess of $350 million - a 58 per cent increase on sales for the corresponding month in 2009.

Mr Williams said the highly active residential market was expected to continue at least in the short term despite the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) this week raising official interest rates to 4.0 per cent.
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The last two of the big four banks have stepped into line with their peers and matched the interest rate rise by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Both National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) and Westpac Banking Corp announced on Wednesday they would lift their standard variable rate on home loans by the same extent as the RBA’s quarter of a percentage point increase on the cash rate.

NAB also said its strategy of matching the RBA previously has led its mortgage volumes to soar.

Group executive personal banking Lisa Gray defended the bank’s retail strategy of maintaining low interest rates and cutting fees, saying NAB had experienced a surge in mortgage applications in February.
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