Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan urged bank customers to consider loans and services from credit unions and building societies as he prepares to release proposals to increase competition against the nation’s four largest banks.
“Competition from smaller lenders in the banking sector has to be activated by empowering consumers to shop around,” Swan said in a statement. “I’d encourage every Australian family to check out the range of products on offer.”
Swan has said he’ll issue a package of reforms this month to reduce the dominance of Westpac Banking Corp, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Calls from politicians to rein in the four lenders have mounted after they last month increased mortgage rates faster than the central bank raised borrowing costs.
OTHER OPTIONS
Swan said many Australians don’t know they can buy services from 60 credit unions and building societies, which are institutions owned by their customers, at post offices. He will probably present his proposals, including ways to help building societies and credit unions issue more loans, to the Cabinet tomorrow and an announcement is likely on Thursday or Friday, according to the -Melbourne-based Age newspaper.
Public debate on competition in financial-services is increasing as key figures in the industry contribute to a senate inquiry. Australian central bank Governor Glenn Stevens is due to appear before the committee on Dec. 13.
OFFSHORE FUNDS
Westpac, Australia’s second--largest lender, last week published its submission, saying there are currently 179 entities competing to sell banking services.
Chief executive officer Gail Kelly called on the government to introduce measures that reduce major banks’ reliance on offshore funds, which has become more expensive since the global financial crisis. The biggest banks have blamed those costs for driving up mortgage prices.
Kelly also said a “wide--ranging” inquiry should wait as long as four years, until the results of new worldwide rules on liquidity and capital rules become clearer.
In an interview on Saturday in the Australian Financial Review, Kelly said the only way to reduce mortgage prices was to help banks obtain cheaper sources of funding.
Australia’s four largest banks used the global financial crisis to tighten their grip on the home-loan market as smaller bank struggled to access credit.
The major banks, dubbed the four pillars after a law preventing takeovers among them, account for about 88 percent of the residential home lending market, according to data from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority.
FLAT FEE
Credit unions and building societies say the country needs more competition and have asked the government to introduce policies to help them access funding.
In a Nov. 30 submission to the senate inquiry, the Association of Building Societies and Credit Unions has asked for the introduction of a flat-fee guarantee of wholesale debt funding for smaller lenders.
The government has invested A$16 billion (US$15.7 billion) in Triple-A rated residential -mortgage-backed securities to support smaller lenders and lower the cost of funds, Swan said.
Australia’s largest lenders are already poised to face greater competition in other areas.
AMP Ltd, which is buying the Australian and New Zealand units of Axa Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd, plans to use the deal to compete in the wealth-management businesses of the largest banks, AMP chief executive officer Craig Dunn told yesterday’s Inside Business program on the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI