Please note that as of August 2012, The Bank Investor site is no longer being updated. Australia and New Zealand's best analysis of the banking and finance industry can be found at Banking Day.

Articles by John Kavanagh

John Kavanagh is the founding editor of The Bank Investor.

Small caps: FlexiGroup's Lombard acquisition wins support

Finance company FlexiGroup is making a big push into the point-of-sale, interest-free finance segment with the purchase of Lombard Finance. FlexiGroup announced late in May that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Lombard for A$10 million. The purchase price represents five times ... More
Published on Tuesday, 12 June, 2012 Filed under small institutions, analysts, Specialist finance

What the analysts are saying: business lending recovery will lift banks

Sell-side analysts have taken a more positive view of the business credit market following the release of the latest lending data. Business credit, reported by the Reserve Bank, rose by 0.3 per cent in February and increased by 0.7 per cent in both March and April, lifting annual growth to 2.3 ... More
Published on Tuesday, 12 June, 2012 Filed under analysts, ANZ, CBA, NAB, Westpac, Suncorp, Bendigo and Adelaide, BoQ, business lending

What the analysts are saying: Suncorp earns an upgrade

Suncorp's new simplification program has won favour with analysts at Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Equities, who upgraded the stock after the Suncorp's strategy briefing last week. Deutsche Bank upgraded Suncorp to a Buy, saying the group's program had the potential to add 10 per cent to profits by ... More
Published on Monday, 4 June, 2012 Filed under analysts, Suncorp

Small caps: IMB plans to delist

The board of IMB Ltd, one of Australia's largest building societies, has accepted a recommendation that it cancel its publicly traded ordinary shares through a series of buybacks. Last week IMB released a capital structure review by consultants Grant Samuel Corporate Finance and Watson Mangioni ... More
Published on Monday, 4 June, 2012 Filed under small institutions, IMB

Hybrid listings perform poorly

The performance of recent hybrid issues since they listed on the Australian Securities Exchange has been poor, with the prices of some securities falling below their issue prices, and credit spreads widening 20 to 50 basis points. According to analysis by fixed-interest broker FIIG Securities, ... More
Published on Monday, 28 May, 2012 Filed under hybrids

Small caps: Thorn Group beats the retail downturn

Consumer goods rental company Thorn Group (ASX code: TGA) has maintained growth, despite the overall weakness in the retail market. The company's Radio Rentals division increased customer numbers by 3.1 per cent and earnings before interest and tax by 12 per cent, to A$45 million. Thorn Group ... More
Published on Monday, 28 May, 2012 Filed under small institutions, results

Banks fail to meet new profit reporting rules

The major banks have failed to meet their obligations for reporting non-statutory earnings figures in the half-year results presentations they have issued over the past few weeks. In December, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission issued updated guidance (RG 230) for the use of ... More
Published on Monday, 21 May, 2012 Filed under ANZ, Westpac, NAB, investor returns, shareholder oversight

'Volatile' markets income worries analysts

Sell-side banking analysts are not convinced about the big banks' reliance on income from volatile markets business and the latter's ability to produce income growth in the March half-year. UBS analyst Jonathon Mott said in his commentary on the big banks' first half results: "We had concerns ... More
Published on Monday, 21 May, 2012 Filed under analysts, ANZ, Westpac, CBA, NAB

NAB's Clyne sticks to his guns

National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne has defended the bank's retail banking strategy against charges that it is a high-cost, low-margin approach that adds nothing to shareholder returns. "We are very happy with the personal bank," Clyne said. The personal banking division, which ... More
Published on Monday, 14 May, 2012 Filed under NAB, results

Stiff margin contraction hits ANZ Australia

A seven per cent fall in earnings for ANZ's Australian division was driven by a 13 basis point decline in its net interest margin, which fell from 2.58 per cent in September to 2.45 per cent in the March 2012 half. The Australian retail and business banking arm reported a profit of A$1.34 billion ... More
Published on Monday, 7 May, 2012 Filed under ANZ, results

Kelly promotes a deposit culture at Westpac

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly believes her bank needs to develop more of a deposit culture to meet changes in regulation and customer behaviour. "Banks have traditionally been very strong on lending," she told analysts at last week's half-year results announcement. Staff performance ... More
Published on Monday, 7 May, 2012 Filed under WBC, results

What the analysts are saying: Westpac on Hold, unsure about ANZ

The majority of sell-side analysts left Westpac on Hold or Neutral after the bank released its half-year results last week, while ANZ's results prompted a more mixed response. Six of nine commentaries seen by Banking Day have Westpac on Hold or Neutral. Two are recommending the stock as an ... More
Published on Monday, 7 May, 2012 Filed under analysts, ANZ, Westpac