Posts Tagged bank mergers

  • The people take a hit The people take a hit

    The gloves are off as the Government and Opposition wade into the ring on the Commonwealth Bank's latest mortgage rate rise BY CHARIS PALMER November's 0.45 per cent mortgage rate rise by the Commonwealth Bank should sound a huge wake-up call for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commi...

  • Are Australian banks slipping into psychopath territory? Are Australian banks slipping into psychopath territory?

    OPINION In his 2004 book and documentary The Corporation, legal scholar Joel Bakan argues if the corporation were a person, it would be a psychopath. Bakan makes his case, with emotive language and images, that the corporation is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful. The c...

  • Merger manoeuvres Merger manoeuvres

    When assessing a potential acquisition or merger, the ACCC must be satisfied markets will remain competitive before giving clearance BY DAVID JACOBSON In 2008, when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) did not oppose the Commonwealth Bank's merger with BankWest and Westp...

  • BankWest competing on price instead of process

    The latest APRA statistics on deposits are proof that a price-competitive product offering is no guarantee of market share, with BankWest losing another $219 million (1.5 per cent) in February, on the back of its $163 million outflow in January.Unless its new Smart eSaver turns the tide, BankWest’...

  • What do consumers think about reduced competition in banking?

    Retail Banking Review/CoreData has just released the findings of a revealing poll on competition in Australian banking.It seems one in six (16.7 per cent) BankWest customers and 7.4 per cent of St George customers plan to vote with their feet and leave the bank as a result of the merger/takeover of ...

  • Australia’s brave new world of banking

    With the bid for BankWest now secured by the Commonwealth Bank, all eyes turn toward Suncorp. While not the heroic finale that Suncorp was aspiring to, being bought by Australia’s largest bank would enable the brand to bunker down and do what it does best – service the Queensland market.The past...

  • Commonwealth Bank snares BankWest at bargain basement price of $2.1bn

    Today’s confirmation that the Commonwealth Bank is to purchase challenger brand BankWest represents a blow to competition in Australian banking.A combined CBA/BankWest would control a third of all household deposits, 22.7 per cent of home loans and 18.8 per cent of all business lending in Australi...