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Shares of Sydney-based Westpac fell about 2.1% to trade at A$20.82 at 0040 GMT, hitting their lowest since July 12. Broadly, Australia's major banks have all flagged stiff competition in the mortgage space, along with higher expenses as inflationary pressures weigh. The higher interest rates have also contributed to increased living costs, which are pushing up debt arrears. Westpac did not publish a comparable quarterly net profit figure for the same period a year earlier. The figure reported on Monday was below the A$2 billion average profit for the first two quarters of fiscal 2023.
Persons: David Gray, Riya Sharma, Archishma Iyer, Sam Holmes, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac Banking Corp, Sydney, Westpac, Citi, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia Bank, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia
Westpac flags margin squeeze from rising home loan competition
  + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
REUTERS/David Gray Acquire Licensing RightsSummaryCompanies Reports quarterly cash profit A$1.8 billionLate loan repayments rises to 0.8% in AustraliaCET1 Ratio of 11.9%Aug 21 (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), Australia's third-largest lender, on Monday posted a quarterly cash profit of A$1.8 billion ($1.15 billion), as increased competition for home lending squeezed margins. Australia's major banks have all flagged stiff competition in the mortgage space, along with higher expenses as inflationary pressures weigh. Sydney-based Westpac said expenses for the second half to date were up 5% from the first half, fuelled by higher supplier costs and staff wages. In Australia, loan repayments past 90 days late rose to 0.80% in the three-months ended June, up 7 basis points from 0.73% in March, Westpac said. The lender reported a core net interest margin of 1.86% for the quarter, down 4 basis points from the first half of fiscal 2023.
Persons: David Gray, Riya Sharma, Archishma Iyer, Lisa Shumaker, Sam Holmes Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac Banking Corp, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia Bank, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia
The quarterly results from OCBC, also Southeast Asia's second largest lender by assets, rounded up a strong earnings season by Singapore banks as DBS Group (DBSM.SI) and United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) also delivered double-digit profit growth. Besides higher interest rates, Singapore lenders have also benefited from strong inflows from wealthy customers amid global uncertainty, including U.S.-China geopolitical tensions, because of the city-state's status as a financial safe-haven. Higher interest rates and slower economic growth could raise asset-quality risks for businesses and individual customers, he said, adding weak loan demand could negatively impact net interest income growth momentum once margin expansion peaks. OCBC said April-June net profit climbed to S$1.71 billion ($1.28 billion) from S$1.28 billion a year earlier mainly driven by better income growth and partly offset by higher allowances for non-impaired assets. The figure compared with a mean estimate of a S$1.76 billion profit from four analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Persons: ROE, Thilan Wickramasinghe, OCBC, NIM, Yantoultra Ngui, Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam, Jamie Freed Organizations: Chinese Banking Corp, DBS, United Overseas Bank, Maybank Securities, Refinitiv, Thomson Locations: Singapore, SINGAPORE, Asia's, U.S, China, Malaysia
The quarterly results from OCBC, also Southeast Asia's second largest lender by assets, rounded up a strong earnings season by Singapore banks as DBS Group (DBSM.SI) and United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) also delivered double-digit profit growth. Besides higher interest rates, Singapore lenders have also benefited from strong inflows from wealthy customers amid global uncertainty, including U.S.-China geopolitical tensions, because of the city-state's status as a financial safe-haven. The figure compared with a mean estimate of a S$1.76 billion profit from four analysts polled by Refinitiv. The bank projected its full-year net interest margin, a key profitability gauge, to be above 2.2%, return on equity in the range of 14% and low-to-mid single-digit loan growth. ($1 = 1.3410 Singapore dollars)Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam and Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: ROE, Helen Wong, Thilan Wickramasinghe, OCBC, Wong, Yantoultra Ngui, Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam, Jamie Freed Organizations: Chinese Banking Corp, DBS, United Overseas Bank, Maybank Securities, Refinitiv, Thomson Locations: Singapore, SINGAPORE, Asia's, U.S, China, Malaysia
MANILA, July 24 (Reuters) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday touted his administration's successes over the past year, including battling inflation and steering the economy back on track, but said a number of economic challenges lie ahead. After more than a year in office, buffeted by soaring inflation that has dented economic growth, the government is now "stabilising the prices of all critical commodities", Marcos said. "Inflation rate is moving in the right direction," he said in his second state of the nation address. Developing the long-neglected farm sector, which contributes 10% of the country's economic output, is a priority for Marcos, who also helms the agriculture ministry. The Philippines remains vulnerable to global price shocks because it buys a sizeable portion of its rice overseas, and relies on imports for most of its fuel requirements.
Persons: Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Marcos, helms, Michael Ricafort, Enrico dela Cruz, Eloisa Lopez, Bernadette Baum, Mark Potter Organizations: Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, Asia's, Thomson Locations: MANILA, Philippines, Philippine, Rizal, China, Manila, United States
July 19 (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) on Wednesday said it would split its consumer and business banking business into two, with each having its own CEO, effective Aug. 1. The bank said Chris de Bruin, currently head of the combined unit, will leave and named Jason Yetton as CEO of the consumer business and Anthony Miller as CEO of the business and wealth division. Westpac also promoted Nell Hutton to head its institutional bank unit. These changes come at a time when Australia's biggest banks are reeling under the pressures of increased interest rates, which have contributed to slowing credit growth. The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised interest rates by a whopping 400 basis points in just 14 months.
Persons: Chris de Bruin, Jason Yetton, Anthony Miller, Nell Hutton, Harish Sridharan, Savio D'Souza Organizations: Westpac Banking Corp, Westpac, Reserve Bank of Australia, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru
July 7 (Reuters) - National Australia Bank (NAB) (NAB.AX) on Friday said it would refresh its approach to like-for-like refinancing criteria to help customers who would otherwise fail to meet an industry standard that assesses their ability to repay loans. Last month, top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) cut its buffer rate for some borrowers refinancing their existing home loan to 1% from the industry standard of 3%. After NAB, ANZ Group Holdings (ANZ.AX) is the only bank left among the top four to ease refinancing loans criteria for customers unable to meet APRA standard. NAB said the changes to its refinancing criteria will apply from July 21, but added that it will take a "case-by-case" approach when assessing appropriate serviceability. Reporting by Himanshi Akhand and Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H KOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Himanshi Akhand, Sameer Manekar, Varun Organizations: National Australia Bank, NAB, Reuters, The, Prudential Regulation Authority, APRA, Reserve Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, ANZ Group Holdings, ANZ, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru
Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation has set its sights on "longer term opportunities" in Greater China and Southeast Asia and expects the strategy to bring an additional revenue of $2.2 billion by 2025, CEO Helen Wong told CNBC on Monday. Southeast Asia's second largest bank announced Monday that it will be unifying its brand across its core markets in Greater China — which includes Hong Kong and Macao — as well as Southeast Asia. "If you look at macro trends, Greater China and ASEAN together is going to continue to contribute more to the world's GDP growth," Wong told CNBC, referring to the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations bloc. "If you look at the trade numbers for the last four years, China and ASEAN — they're growing at a CAGR of 13%," she added. As such, while the OCBC has seen slowing economic growth in some countries in the region, Wong said she's confident it will be able to capture growth as it "puts our act together."
Persons: Singapore's Oversea, Helen Wong, Wong Organizations: Chinese Banking Corporation, CNBC, Macao —, Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN —, ASEAN Locations: Greater China, Southeast Asia, Asia's, Hong Kong, Macao, China, ASEAN
Singapore's second-biggest lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp , or OCBC, said on Monday it expects to deliver an additional revenue of 3 billion Singapore dollars, or $2.22 billion, by 2025, after it posted a record first-quarter profit in May. The bank did not disclose its 2025 total revenue target. Its total revenue in 2022 was SG$11.68 billion. OCBC will invest more than SG$50 million over the next three years to build up its transaction banking capabilities in greater China, it said in its statement. It targets to achieve more than 500 regional mandates for cash management over the next five years, it added.
Persons: Singapore's, OCBC, Helen Wong Organizations: Chinese Banking Corp, ASEAN Locations: China, Southeast Asia
The bubble burst after the Bank of Japan tightened monetary policy at the start of 1990, triggering the collapse of equity and land prices. But analysts who spoke to CNBC said Japan is not headed for another crash like the one during the bubble. Furthermore, "current high inflation rates in Japan are due to higher import costs on the back of a weaker yen and high commodity prices. What led to Japan's bubble? Nikkei reported in March that share buybacks by Japanese companies was set to reach their highest level in 16 years.
Persons: Kazuhiro NOGI, KAZUHIRO NOGI, Nogi, Dong Chen, Ryota Abe, Abe, Japan's, Shinzo Abe, Chen, SMBC, Warren Buffet's Organizations: Nikkei, Getty, Afp, Bank of Japan, CNBC, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Tokyo Exchange, Billionaire, Global Locations: Tokyo, AFP, Japan, China
MAS imposed penalties of S$2.6 million ($1.93 million) for DBS, S$600,000 for OCBC, or Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, S$400,000 for Citibank and S$200,000 for Swiss Life. Asked whether illicit activities had taken place involving the institutions, MAS said its checks focused on compliance with its requirements. DBS failed to adequately inquire into the background and purpose of "unusually large transactions", it said. A Swiss Life spokesperson said it had terminated a client relationship in 2020 after being approached by authorities about a contract. "Since then, and in close cooperation with the authorities, additional measures have been implemented within Swiss Life (Singapore) to detect client misconduct more effectively."
Persons: Wirecard, OCBC, Chen Lin, Yantoultra, Selina Li, Martin Petty, Conor Humphries Organizations: Citibank, DBS, Swiss, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Chinese Banking Corp, MAS, FIs, Singapore police, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, Singapore
June 21 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) on Wednesday cut its buffer rate for some borrowers refinancing their existing home loan to 1% from the industry standard of 3%, providing relief to many clients who would otherwise fail to qualify due to high interest rates. The country's prudential regulator advises lenders to refinance home loans only if they believe the customer could repay at 3% higher than current market rates. While CBA's alternate buffer is not in line with the regulator's recommendation, it does not break the serviceability buffer, the regulator said, as it allows exceptions to the policy but warns against high volumes. CBA has a quarter of the Australian mortgage market, where thousands of borrowers are expected to end their fixed rate loans this year, forcing them to shop around for new loans at current rates. "We know that due to the current interest rate environment some home owners are facing challenges refinancing their home loans so we are introducing an alternate interest rate serviceability buffer," CBA's Michael Baumann, executive general manager home buying said.
Persons: CBA's Michael Baumann, Sameer Manekar, Byron Kaye, Nivedita Organizations: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, prudential, CBA, Prudential Regulation Authority, Westpac Banking Corp, Reserve Bank of Australia, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Sydney
June 12 (Reuters) - Australian lender Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) will cut around 300 jobs in its consumer and business banking segments at a time of strong profit growth amid rising interest rates and soaring inflation, a local trade body said. The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) said on Friday the country's third-largest bank would reduce headcount from its Consumer and Business Banking Division, citing a Westpac internal memo seen by the union. 2 mortgage provider reported a 22% rise in its first half net profit to A$4.00 billion ($2.70 billion) amid a high-inflationary environment. The bank could not be reached immediately for a comment on account of a public holiday on Monday. ($1 = 1.4839 Australian dollars)Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Julia Angrisano, Rishav Chatterjee, Rashmi Organizations: Westpac Banking Corp, Finance Sector Union of Australia, FSU, Consumer, Business Banking, Westpac, Reuters, ANZ Group, National Australia Bank, DBS, Australia's, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru
Several Chinese lenders cut yuan deposit rates from Monday
  + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) - Several Chinese commercial banks cut interest rates on a range of yuan deposits from Monday, following their larger peers in a coordinated move to ease pressure on profit margins. The deposit rate cuts follow a similar move by China's biggest state lenders on Friday and marks the second such industry-wide cut within a year, with previous action taken in September. Analysts expect the deposit rate cuts will provide more room for a further cut soon by the central bank in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) to expand credit and boost investment spending. The lenders cut rates on two-year time deposits by 10 bps points, and three-year and five-year time deposits by 15 bps points. The rate cuts will help ease pressure on lenders' profit margins as savings held in banks had ballooned when the economy slowed during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Persons: Yi Gang, Ziyi Tang, Ryan Woo, Sonali Paul Organizations: China's, China Merchants Bank Co Ltd, China Citic Bank Corp, China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd, People's Bank of, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, Banks, China, People's Bank of China, Shanghai
June 6 (Reuters) - Top Australian lender Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) said on Tuesday that it will raise its home loan variable interest rates by 25 basis points (bps), in line with the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) rate hike. In a surprise move, the RBA raised interest rates by a quarter-point to an 11-year high, and warned that further tightening may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target. The cash rate now sits at 4.1%, bringing the total RBA hikes in its price battle to a whopping 400 basis points since May last year. Westpac's new home loan rate will be effective from June 20, the bank said in a statement. Westpac is the first of the 'big four' banks to have passed on the central bank's latest rate hike to its customers, with the other three expected to follow suit soon.
Persons: Echha Jain, Savio D'Souza, Eileen Soreng Organizations: Westpac Banking Corp, Reserve Bank of Australia's, Westpac, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru
May 30 (Reuters) - Crown Resorts, the Australian casino operator bought by Blackstone Inc (BX.N) after three damaging inquiries, agreed to pay a A$450 million ($294 million) fine for breaking anti-money laundering laws, a step toward ending its darkest chapter. "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with AUSTRAC," said Crown Resorts CEO Ciarán Carruthers, who started in the role in September. "The company that committed these unacceptable, historic breaches is far removed from the company that exists today." Australian regulators over the recent years have penalised a slew of companies over breaches and non-compliances, with the country's "Big Four" banks fined the most. ($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)Reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Here are some of the major penalties imposed by the regulators:AMP LTD (AMP.AX)Troubled Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd was fined a court-mandated penalty of A$24 million in May for billing dead clients for insurance and financial advice. In October 2022, ANZ was penalised A$25 million for failing to provide certain benefits it had agreed to give customers. In October 2022, CBA's trading unit was fined A$20 million for compliance failures in delivering financial services. NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK (NAB.AX)National Australia Bank, the country's second-largest bank, was charged A$18.5 million penalty in August 2021 by a court for issuing misleading fee disclosure statements or none at all. WESTPAC BANKING CORP (WBC.AX)Australia's third-biggest lender, Westpac Banking Corp was ordered to pay A$113 million in penalties in April 2022 for multiple compliance failures across its businesses.
2 mortgage provider has told mortgage brokers that "if a customer is unable to meet serviceability under the standard assessment criteria", it might apply a modified serviceability assessment rate. Since the buffer is a guideline, banks are allowed to deviate from it. "APRA should consider officially lowering the serviceability buffer for refinancers." Representatives for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) and ANZ Banking Group Ltd (ANZ.AX) were not immediately available for comment. ($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)Reporting by Byron Kaye and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
SYDNEY, May 18 (Reuters) - The Australian arm of Binance, the world's largest crypto-currency exchange, on Thursday said some local customers will be unable to deposit or withdraw money after a third-party payment provider cut off its service. Binance on social media said users are unable to make Australian dollar deposits by bank transfer with immediate effect. "We are working hard to find an alternative provider to continue offering AUD deposits and withdrawals to our users," Binance said in a statement. The Australian Financial Review reported the provider was Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), the country's second-largest retail bank. Reporting by Lewis Jackson and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
"When there's a macroeconomic downturn, it's generally institutional and business lending exposures that are impacted first," he added. For decades, Australian housing finance has significantly outpaced business lending, making home loan margins the engine of profits. A more recent exodus from non-lending retail services like financial advice has further weighted banks' allocation of capital to residential property. The big four banks said in earnings updates this month that their net interest margins peaked in late 2022 and have since narrowed. To hedge against interest rates risks, the Big Four may now chase new services-based revenues from commercial clients in non-lending segments, added Garland.
OCBC, which is also Southeast Asia's second-biggest bank by assets, said January-March net profit rose 39% to S$1.88 billion ($1.42 billion), beating the mean estimate of S$1.74 billion from five analysts polled by Refinitiv. OCBC reported a total net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, of 2.30% for the first quarter, up from 1.55% in the same period a year earlier. The bank forecast a full-year net interest margin of about 2.2%, up from 2.1% previously. The first quarter was also strong for Singapore's other major banks, with larger peer DBS Group (DBSM.SI) reporting last week a 43% jump in first quarter net profit that was also a record. Smaller United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) posted last month a 74% surge in core net profit.
OCBC, which is also Southeast Asia's second-biggest bank by assets, said January-March net profit rose to a record S$1.88 billion ($1.42 billion) from S$1.36 billion a year earlier. The bank reported a total net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, of 2.30% for the first quarter, up from 1.55% in the same period a year earlier. OCBC expected full-year net interest margin in the region of 2.2%. The first quarter was also strong for Singapore's other major banks, with larger peer DBS Group (DBSM.SI) reporting last week a 43% jump in first quarter net profit that was also a record. Smaller United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) posted last month a 74% surge in core net profit.
SINGAPORE, May 10 (Reuters) - Singapore's second biggest lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) (OCBC.SI) on Wednesday reported a 39% jump in its first-quarter net profit from a year earlier on the back of strong net interest income growth. OCBC, which is also Southeast Asia's second biggest bank by assets, said January-March net profit jumped to a record S$1.88 billion ($1.42 billion) from S$1.36 billion a year earlier. That beat the mean estimate of S$1.74 billion from five analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. ($1 = 1.3245 Singapore dollars)Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
While most companies struggled during the pandemic, digital-payment companies including PayPal thrived as consumers were forced to depend more on online transactions. But as pandemic restrictions began to ease, PayPal's stock growth started to fall off. And while PayPal's total payment volume has seen continuous gains, its stock growth has slowed, with rising competition in the digital-payment space being a major contributing factor. "There's a positive and a negative to the fact that PayPal is so focused on e-commerce," said Brett Horn, an analyst at Morningstar. Watch the video to find out more about how Paypal makes its money and why it has been struggling in recent years.
Intense mortgage competition is expected to negatively impact industry and Westpac’s margins in the next half," it said. The country's No.3 lender said net profit came in at A$4.00 billion ($2.70 billion) for the six months ended March 31, compared with A$3.28 billion a year earlier. Net interest margin - the difference between interest earned from lending and paid for deposits - rose 5 basis points from a year earlier to 1.96% at the end of March. Westpac declared an interim dividend of 70 Australian cents per share, as compared with 61 Australian cents last year. ($1 = 1.4819 Australian dollars)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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