Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
"Intelligent Insight"
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”
APRA just released their Superannuation Fund-level Profiles and Financial Performance (interim edition). Superannuation funds included in this publication represent the vast majority of superannuation assets regulated by APRA. It contains data for all APRA-regulated superannuation funds with more than four members. Pooled superannuation trusts (PSTs) have been excluded from the publication publications as their assets … Continue reading “Average Super Fund Return Was 13% In 2014 – APRA”
We have updated our bank fee analysis, to take account of the 2013 data from the RBA. They collect fees data from 17 banks operating in Australia, covering over 90 per cent of total banking sector assets. Each bank provides data on income received over the financial year that is used as the basis for … Continue reading “Banking Fees Cost $11.6 bn”
The most recent ABS data continues to underscore the fact that Owner Occupied First Time Buyers are sitting out of the market. In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments fell to 11.8% in August 2014 from 12.2% in July 2014. However, this … Continue reading “First Time Buyers Get The Investment Bug – Big Time”
ASIC today released a report into fee disclosure practices for super and managed investments. The intention of the fee and cost disclosure requirements is to promote comparability of products. However, ASIC’s review of industry practices indicates that there is significant variation in the disclosure of fees and costs. A key driver of this variation is … Continue reading “ASIC Warns On Super And Managed Investment Fees”
Last week, the Future of Financial Advice regulations were tabled in Parliament, following the recently published Senate review. As currently incarnated they have the potential to drive a coach and horses through the original intentions of the FOFA reforms. Today we explore why this is so, and highlight some of the consequences for both the managed … Continue reading “Why FOFA Matters So Much”