AUSTRALIA’S banking regulator APRA is picking and choosing which banks it is allowing to get away with breaking the law by misreporting whether their sites offer cash service provided by a teller according to an important article in The Regional. Kudos once again to Dale Webster for highlighting this important issue.
Errors in hundreds of minor and foreign bank sites included in the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s points of presence data for years, even decades, have been corrected over the past 17 months after being exposed by The Regional in May 2021.
Once again, volatility continues to surge, as the S&P 500 gave up gains on Thursday driven by rising Treasury yields despite the bulk of quarterly results suggesting corporate America is in better shape than feared. Recession fears are growing. More broadly the stresses and strains are showing across UK Politics, Oil, and Investment Banking, so we will touch on all these in today’s post.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
My latest Friday afternoon yarn with Journalist Tarric Brooker (@AvidCommentator on Twitter). We look at the latest ructions in the markets and ask what is going to happen next – what is below the waterline, with the help if Tarrric’s slides.
Copies of the slides can be found at: https://avidcom.substack.com/p/charts-that-matter-30th-september
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
But Its Just The Tip Of The Iceberg: With Tarric Brooker [Podcast]
Dale Webster from The Regional And Robbie Barwick from the Citizens Party discuss the war on cash with me , and specifically the removal of branch and cash infrastructure, especially in regional areas.
The Regional is an independent news service for 37 per cent of Australia’s population (and growing)!
Dale has been tracking regional bank closures, despite the amount of cash still in use (and rising). Banks are casting a dangerous shadow.
But now there is a Petition EN4244 – Moratorium on regional bank closures and new inquiry in front of Parliament, and we have about 10 days to send a formal message to the Australian Parliament Petition. It closes on 6th October 2022.
Private research shows regional Australia has lost 62 per cent of its banks since 1975, leaving just 1062 located mainly in clusters in larger centres. The number of towns and cities with a bank has shrunk from 1226 to 386: 575 towns that once had one or more major banks now have no form of bank at all. Another 146 towns are on the brink of complete loss of banking services, with just one major bank open. Last year, regional Australia lost 113 “big four” bank branches. Locations included 45 towns that were stripped of their last/only bank. Of these, 23 did not have a minor corporate, mutual or franchise bank to fall back on. If a similar 10 per cent cut to the branch network is made this year, 100 more branches will be lost in the next seven months: 50 towns will lose their last bank. This issue has not been looked at properly for 17 years. The Morrison Government set up a “taskforce into regional banking” as a pre-election stunt but only put representatives of the banking industry and its own politicians on it. Just one public meeting was held. Findings have not yet been delivered.
Petition Request
We therefore ask the House to impose an immediate moratorium on regional bank closures, launch a new inquiry to pick up from where Money too Far Away (1999) and Money Matters in the Bush (2004) left matters and pulp any reports that come from the coalition’s taskforce.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
The Banks Are The Aggressors In The War On Cash! [Podcast]
I caught up with Cameron as he republishes his book from 2017 Game of Mates: How favours bleed the nation as Rigged “How Networks Of Powerful Mates Rip Off Everyday Australians”.
This book will open your eyes to how Australia really works. It’s not good news, but you need to know it.’ – Ross Gittins
‘You’ll be shocked at how far the Mates have their hand in your pocket.’ – Nicholas Gruen
Australia has become one of the most unequal societies in the Western world, when just a generation ago it was one of the most equal. This is the story of how networks of Mates have come to dominate business and government, robbing ordinary Australians. Every hour you work, thirty minutes of it goes to line the Mates’ pockets rather than your own. Mates in big corporations, industry groups, government departments, the halls of parliament and the media skew the system to suit each other. Corporations dodge taxes, so you pay more. You pay more for your house and higher interest rates on your mortgage, more for your medicines and transport, and more for your children’s education and insurance, because the Mates take a cut.
Rigged uncovers the pattern of political favours, grey gifts and information-sharing that has been allowed to build up over two decades. Drawing on extensive economic research, it exposes the Game of Mates as nothing less than cronyism on a grand scale across Australia and how we have fallen behind other countries in combating it.
We also discuss the recent Canberra event and housing policy in general.
Dr Cameron K. Murray is a Research Fellow in the Henry Halloran Trust at the University of Sydney and an economist specialising in property and urban development, environmental economics, rent-seeking and corruption. Professor Paul Frijters teaches at the London School of Economics and was previously Professor of Health Economics at the University of Queensland.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Inside The Tent: How Power Really Works... With Cameron Murray [Podcast]
This is an edited version of a live discussion about the current state of economics and politics, with a focus on the busted energy markets with David Llewelln-Smith Chief Strategist at @NucleusWealth and founding publisher and editor for @Macro_business. Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/ Original stream and chat here: https://youtu.be/4AhEaWqOpAU
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
DFA Live Q&A HD Replay David Llewelln-Smith: Fixing Energy Now [Podcast]
I am joined by Robbie Barwick from the Australian Citizens Party to discuss a critical policy area, ahead of the new Parliament sitting next week. We want to make sure the politicians are aware of the benefits of a National Postal Bank, and how you can help to raise that awareness.
