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25 December 2025

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Edition: 202

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Edition 202

  • 19 May 2017

I've been a member of the Pricing Committees of three Australian banks. Over the years, meetings became increasingly complex as pricing factored in higher capital and liquidity requirements (for example, CBA holds an incredible $155 billion of high quality liquid assets), funding mismatches, competitive forces, product margins and, somewhere in the mix, community backlash and politics. Into the hundreds of pages of material produced each week will now go a new cost for five of the banks: the 0.06% levy on certain liabilities.

What matters most? A good industry or a good management?

The surprising fact from this study of profitability is that there’s no such thing as a ‘bad’ industry, only inadequate or inappropriate management.

Government debt: how much is too much?

The level of Commonwealth government debt to GDP is the highest it has been since the 1950s, and it’s only likely to worsen in the face of populist policies. Is this something we should worry about?

The growth sector property investors overlook

With a high rate of adoption of the internet globally and the large growth in cloud computing, network-dense data centres are well placed to generate long-term returns.

Corporate activity helps build a small cap portfolio

Watch the many different forms of corporate activity for clues to the way management is thinking about a company’s future and the ways to finance its growth. This can be especially useful for investing in small cap stocks.

Facebook's problem became a great opportunity

The good news about negative media articles is that a story only needs to become slightly more positive to create an investment opportunity. Just look at Facebook and a bad news day.

How I lost my files to ransomware

A cautionary tale to remind us that the authentic-looking email from that authentic company we deal with may not be friendly at all. This is what a ransomware virus can do after a moment’s lack of care.

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