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3 September 2025
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Inside view from top of CBA, retrospective tax, RCR collapse lessons, conflicted awards for funds, acquisition value, fintechs, advisers and seniors.
The Commonwealth Bank's reputation has taken a battering at the Royal Commission, and a veteran of 13 years on the top table of the Bank's Executive Committee explains what went wrong and where we should head.
Companies always boast the synergies and growth prospects of acquisitions, but dig a little deeper with these questions and you might see why most of these deals fail to add value when finally bedded down.
One person's unjust retrospective policy change is another's overdue and necessary reform. Did people objecting about unfavourable policy retrospectivity complain when they benefitted from a retrospective change?
Large companies supported and promoted by investment managers, brokers, analysts and investment banks have disappeared quickly sometimes. Retail investors should manage equity risk by diversification.
A major publisher has discontinued a high-profile fund manager award due to short termism and the conflict of fund managers contributing to the revenues of the agencies doing the ratings.
Fintechs want to inject themselves between banks and their customers in the most profitable areas. Most will fail but others will chip away and the banks must respond, while the regulators keep a close watch.
Most financial advisers will say they have faced an increased level of scrutiny from clients due to the Royal Commission. The test is how the industry wins back trust.
Each generation believes its economic challenges were uniquely tough - but what does the data say? A closer look reveals a more nuanced, complex story behind the generational hardship debate.
Australia could unlock smarter investment and greater equity by reforming housing tax concessions. Rethinking exemptions on the family home could benefit most Australians, especially renters and owners of modest homes.
The Labor government is talking up tax reform to lift Australia’s ailing economic growth. Before any changes are made, it’s important to know who pays tax, who owns assets, and how much people have in their super for retirement.
This goes through the different options including shares, property and business ownership and declares a winner, as well as outlining the mindset needed to earn enough to never have to work again.
Everyone has a theory as to why housing in Australia is so expensive. There are a lot of different factors at play, from skewed migration patterns to banking trends and housing's status as a national obsession.
China's steel production, equivalent to building one Sydney Harbour Bridge every 10 minutes, has driven Australia's economic growth. With China's slowdown, what does this mean for Australia's economy and investments?