Litigation over Bank of Queensland’s (BOQ) involvement with the failed financier Storm Financial could substantially eat into the bank’s profit just as losses from bad debts peak.

BOQ revealed last Thursday it had a total lending exposure of $105 million from 319 Storm Financial clients - $20 million more than the bank’s interim 2009 cash profit.

However, BOQ has said the majority of the customers were repaying their loans and no margin loans were provided to Storm customers.

BOQ was caught off guard last week when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) placed the bank under investigation for matters relating to Storm one day after BOQ issued a denial over a regulatory probe.
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Banker and insurer Suncorp-Metway Ltd has announced financial services executive Patrick Snowball as its new chief executive officer.

Mr Snowball was chairman and deputy chairman with the Towergate group of companies for the past two years, and was a member of the executive team at Aviva plc, the world’s fifth largest insurance group, for 19 years from 1988.

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of an outstanding leader with extensive financial services experience and who has overseen businesses with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, India and Asia,” Suncorp chairman John Story said in a statement.

The appointment follows an “exhaustive” national and international search, Mr Story said.
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Problems with the Commonwealth Bank’s internet banking website are due to a high level of traffic, some of which may be malicious, the bank says.

But customers’ money is safe, it says.

“There have been no security breaches and no customer information, money or accounts have been accessed or compromised,” Commonwealth Bank spokesman Steve Batten said.

“We are currently experiencing exceptionally high volumes of traffic, some of which appears to be malicious,” he told AAP.

The source of the suspect traffic, and its type, had not yet been confirmed, he said.
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Rural services company Elders Ltd says it has completed agreements with its lenders to extend short dated debt for three months, allowing time to refinance the facilities.

Elders said in a statement on Tuesday that the debt would be extended from June 30 to September 30.

“The extension has been put in place to provide sufficient time to enable orderly completion of the refinancing of the current financing facilities into a new syndicated facility,” the statement said.

“Elders anticipates that the refinancing will be concluded by 30 September 2009.”
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According to NAB Brokers’ website, the turnaround times on obtaining an unconditional approval has been nearly cut in half.

In the space of 6 weeks, NAB Brokers has managed to improve their turnaround times from when we last reported on them taking 2 weeks to an unconditional approval (assuming you had everything you needed!)

The previous downturn in service levels from NAB had been attributed to “Unprecedented volumes and a recent external supplier technology failure” which have impacted upon the service delivery and turnaround times.

Previous turnaround times can be viewed here
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As part of the continued efforts to support the Australian Mortgage Industry, specialist mortgage software and services provider, The Stargate Group has today announced that for a limited period of time, Brokers, Mortgage Managers, Originators and Aggregators can gain free access to the flagship Broker CRM platform Symmetry.

In these tough economic times and with the property market being sustained thanks largely to the first home buyers entering the market, it is imperative that a broker has the ability to manage client applications properly.  Having free access to a robust broker tool should be at the top of every broker’s mind and by giving brokers free access to Symmetry; we’re helping them keep their business alive.
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Potential bottlenecks with home loan applications can be avoided if buyers are assisted through the approval process, according to leading mortgage broker Loan Market.

Loan Market Sunshine Coast broker Lindy Kelly said banks and other home finance providers had been busier due to the rush of people taking up the boosted First Home Buyers Grant.

But she said the increased workload for lenders had not jeopardised residential real estate transactions.

“Loan Market has been working with individual lenders to ensure that there is a process in place for the escalation and fast-tracking of urgent loan applications,” Ms Kelly said.
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National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) chief executive Cameron Clyne says rising bad debt levels will be feature of most banks’ results over the “next couple” of half years, particularly if unemployment rises.

Mr Clyne said while Australia was experiencing a milder downturn that other countries around the world, its banks had already seen a rise in corporate credit impairments related to leveraged business models over late 2008 and early 2009.

“We are now very much in the same phase of the downturn and we saw that particularly, I think, in most banks’ results, with an up-tick in the March half (year) with bad and doubtful debts,” he told ABC Television.

“We think that’s going to be a feature in the next couple of halves.
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Bank of Queensland Ltd (BOQ) says it is the subject of an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The regional bank said it was made aware that it was under investigation on Thursday, June 25, Brisbane-based BOQ said in a statement on Friday.

Shares in BOQ had gained 44 cents, or 5.2 per cent, to $8.90 as of 1532 AEST.

The news comes after the bank told the stock exchange on Thursday there is no evidence it had acted dishonestly in relation to clients of collapsed investment group Storm Financial.
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Angry bank customers have found a new place to deposit their anger.

They are hitting the world wide web instead of their bank branch and are venting online about sloppy service and interest rate rises.

A new Nielsen Online study reveals social networking sites such as Twitter are booming with people publicly expressing their displeasure.

The study measured consumer-generated media, or “buzz”, around the big four banks and found online discussion spiked following specific incidents related to banks.
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Cyber criminals purporting to be the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are using a sophisticated email scam involving personal tax returns to fleece consumers, a computer security company says.

The scam ATO email, which promises a $250 bonus on top of a tax return, links the taxpayer to an online form that asks for personal details including ATM pin, credit card details and tax file number.

Instead of submitting the form online, the website asks for a printed version to be mailed to an address.

Symantec Australia and New Zealand managing director Craig Scroggie said cyber criminals captured the details when the print button was pressed, allowing access to the accounts.
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The Today group of companies has made BRW’s prestigious Fast Starters list for 2009. It’s the second consecutive year the group has received the accolade and the award marks the group as one of the leading pace setters for expansion and growth in the Australian market.

The Today group is operating at the cutting edge of the financial industry in Australia. It provides a complete range of financial services for clients as well as a myriad of business opportunities for mortgage brokers, real estate agents, financial planners, accountants and others.

Across its various companies, the group provides loan, insurance, superannuation, investment strategy and wealth creation services. A complete service offering that other finance and broking organisations would envy.
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Bank of Queensland Ltd (BoQ) says there is no evidence of dishonest practices by the bank in connection with Storm Financial clients.

BOQ sought on Thursday to clarify its position given what it said was “significant misinformation” in the media about its dealings with Storm Financial and Storm customer accounts.

Based on “the bank’s knowledge and enquiries to date”, it said, “there is no evidence of improper or dishonest practices or conduct by the bank in connection with Storm clients”.

BoQ said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange that there also was “no evidence that the bank has engaged in any misleading and deceptive conduct or unconscionable conduct in relation to its lending to Storm clients”.
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Home owners are not being panicked into switching to fixed rate loans, despite the nation’s largest home lender recently raising its standard variable mortgage rate, a broker says.

Earlier this month, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia raised its variable rate by 10 basis points, blaming higher funding costs.

Loan Group executive director John Kolenda said the company’s brokers had received few inquiries about fixed rates despite the increase.

“The lack of demand to switch to fixed rates indicated the majority of home owners believed they would be better off sticking to variable rates while the economy remained in decline,” Mr Kolenda said.
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