Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
"Intelligent Insight"
From The Conversation. Much of the focus on the insider trading case of Oliver Curtis has been on the titillating details of the man’s social life, his wife and past relationship with his partner in crime John Hartman. However all this misses the point, it’s not about what the pair gained and stand to lose … Continue reading “Insider trading is greedy, not glamorous, and it hurts us all”
From The Conversation. The idea of separating out the arms of the “Big Four” banks like insurance and superannuation from their core banking business is gaining traction in Australia. It featured in the Greens’ banking and finance election policy. However this is not a new idea; Australia is just catching up to banking reforms already … Continue reading “It’s time we broke up the retail arms of Australia’s Big Four banks”
From The Conservation. There are three critical tests for this year’s budget. Is it serious about repairing Australia’s ongoing structural budget deficits? Does it make much of a difference to economic growth? And is it fair? Budget repair Over the last year, the bottom line got worse. The long-promised return to surplus receded another year … Continue reading “Three critical tests for Budget 2016: how does it fare?”
In the RBA Bulletin, released today, there is a section which shows major bank margins have improved. Essentially, the story is one of falling deposit rates, plus change in mix, and rises in home lending rates independent of the cash rate in recent months. Consumers are bearing the burden whilst big business lending rates and … Continue reading “Bank Spreads Have Improved, Thanks To More Expensive Home Loans”
From The Conversation. It’s not every day that I feel the need to fight with Martin Wolf. The Financial Times commentator is an eminently respectable analyst and most of the time makes good sense. However, last week he sort of lost the plot. Mr Wolf has written that technology will do to finance what it … Continue reading “Uberbanking, with limits”
From The Conversation. The Australian banking industry is a classic economic ‘oligopoly’ with the so-called ‘Four Pillars’ or ‘Big Four’ (National Australia Bank (NAB), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), ANZ and Westpac) dominating not only the banking sector but the whole financial sector and arguably the economy. The big four banks account for over 25% … Continue reading “Banking outlook: threats from technology, burst of housing bubble, end of mining boom”
The Australian payments system is evolving, both in terms of some innovative new payment instruments that are on their way and the declining use of some of our older or legacy payment instruments. Tony Richards RBA Head of Payments Policy Department RBA, spoke at the Payments Innovation 2016 Conference on this evolution. There is a … Continue reading “The Ongoing Evolution of the Australian Payments System”
From The Conversation. Allowing first homebuyers to cash out their super to buy a home is a seductive idea with a long history. Like the nine-headed Hydra, which replaced each severed head with two more, each time the idea is cut down it seems to return even stronger. Both sides of federal politics took proposals … Continue reading “Five reasons the Turnbull government shouldn’t let us spend super on a home”
From The Conversation. When Australia’s new treasurer walks into the office on Monday morning, a stack of unfinished business awaits. A quick scan of the Treasury website reveals four major inquiries begun in the past 18 months that are still in progress – the Financial System Inquiry, the Competition Policy Review, the Tax White Paper … Continue reading “The unfinished business facing Australia’s new treasurer”
From The Conversation. Talk of the demise of Australian coal production is largely political, not economic. The problem for the countries that presently mine and burn coal is that there are currently few low cost alternatives. Most countries in the world today are focused on trying to ensure their citizens have access to electrical power. … Continue reading “The facts on Australian coal production”