Archive for Strategy

  • Competition takes a Swan dive... Competition takes a Swan dive…

    OPINION In January 2009, on the back of the worst financial crisis many had lived to experience, we asked if the industry was about to see the death of competition. The removal of St. George and BankWest as serious competitors to the major banks delivered unprecedented market share to the Big ...

  • PayPal trumps banks on mobile micropayments PayPal trumps banks on mobile micropayments

    OPINION Watching the bevy of announcements coming out of PayPal’s X Innovate conference this week, you could be forgiven for thinking banks have entirely missed the mobile payments boat. Online media giants including Facebook and FT.com have jumped on board PayPal’s new digital goods payme...

  • What if the Independents start calling the shots on banking? What if the Independents start calling the shots on banking?

    OPINION One of the more interesting side effects of the global financial crisis is the development of a number of new banks around the world. The phenomenon hasn’t quite stretched to Australia, where post GFC we are still left with less banks, thanks to industry consolidation. Metro Bank lau...

  • Ex UBank staffers defect to Australia Post Ex UBank staffers defect to Australia Post

    Former UBank general manager Gerd Schenkel has joined the growing list of bankers being tapped by Australia Post chief Ahmed Fahour as he explores new revenue opportunities for the business. Schenkel, understood to be consulting to Australia Post, joins former NAB executives Andrew Maitland and M...

  • Gray restructures NAB personal banking division Gray restructures NAB personal banking division

    National Australia Bank’s experiment with its direct banking businesses UBank, and its broker and adviser support business NAB Partnerships, is under question after the removal of a number of senior executives and a major restructure of its entire personal banking division, led by Lisa Gray. A ...

  • Do you do what you do best, and partner for the rest? Do you do what you do best, and partner for the rest?

    When PayPal recently decided to upgrade and boost the uptake of is mobile phone application, it partnered with young start-up Bump Technologies, a business that enables people to share information simply by bumping their mobile phones together. The result: more than one million downloads of its new ...

  • Mortgage Choice chief would welcome Mortgage Choice chief would welcome “Postbank” home loans

    Mortgage Choice chief executive officer Michael Russell says he would welcome Australia Post into the broking community, should Ahmed Fahour decide to pursue a mortgage distribution strategy. And, he says, “If they went with a white label product, we would sell it”. Russell was commenting ...

  • Why a lack of competition is holding back Australia's financial sector Why a lack of competition is holding back Australia’s financial sector

    It’s perhaps no surprise that the Government-commissioned report ‘Australia as a Financial Centre’ uses the word innovation just a handful of times. As the report’s authors admit, it’s strength, stability and a sound regulatory environment that characterise leading financial centres. It...

  • Hugo Schreuder, CEO of Youi on building a new insurance business Hugo Schreuder, CEO of Youi on building a new insurance business

    In this edition of the Banking Review Podcast, contributor Jen Storey gets inside the world of Hugo Schreuder who was tasked with setting up the Youi insurance business in Australia some two years ago. In this 20 minute interview Hugo discusses the challenge of moving to a new country to start a ...