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2 August 2025

Home / Bank Lending

Bank Lending

1-12 out of 15 results.

Financial pathways to buying a home require planning

In the six months of my battle with brain cancer, one part of financial markets has fascinated me, and it’s probably not what you think. What's led the pages of my reading is real estate, especially residential.

Banks are punishing the most vulnerable

Interest rates are up again, with promises of more to come, but a major story is being glossed over in all the reporting. Large institutions have a feeding frenzy when people become vulnerable or get into trouble.

Why a $5 coin and not a $5 note repays public debt

Did anyone tell the Treasurer that if he had replaced the $5 note with a $5 coin, he could have saved $1 billion? The Government makes a profit from minting coins but we still need to decide whose face we want.

Superannuation funds should be long-term lenders

It makes sense to have long-term savings directed to financing long-term investments and short-term savings (which involve liquidity risk for the institutions accepting them) invested in shorter term investments.

A six-chart snapshot of June 2022 lending data

The Australian economy is undergoing crucial changes. The Reserve Bank's attempts to slow activity is feeding into lending volumes and loan rates but can authorities manage inflation without economic contraction?

Is it time for an Australian 30-year fixed rate mortgage?

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage is the backbone of the American housing market. Is this a better approach than Australia's obsession with either short-term fixed or just variable rate mortgages?

3 key risks: banks are too big to behave badly

Australia's major banks face many challenges but they are strong and remarkably adaptive and resilient. They have also finally accepted they are too big to behave badly.

The sorry tale of our big banks

The history of the Big Four banks is littered with bad strategies by overpaid executives, taxpayer-funded rescues and a lack of competition. As the banks clean up the Royal Commission mess, Macquarie has overall done better.

The outlook for Australian banks

Australian banks appear cheap and their shares trade below broker targets. But three analysts offer deeper explanations that suggest stronger credit standards will affect house prices and credit growth.

Risks to banks at end of construction boom

Australian banks are vulnerable to a collapse in the local housing market due to an overexposure to high-rise developments, interest-only loans and high loan-to-value ratios. The main uncertainty is the timing.

Debt binge main cause of house price rises

Household borrowing, mainly for property, now far exceeds business borrowing, but it is businesses that create jobs and wealth. The crackdown on housing debt is overdue.

’Short selling’ and the Australian banks

Hedge funds have been short selling Australian banks for a while now, mainly due to perceptions about the property market. However, it is not house prices but unemployment that matters most for bank prosperity.

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Raising the GST to 15%

Treasurer Jim Chalmers aims to tackle tax reform but faces challenges. Previous reviews struggled due to political sensitivities, highlighting the need for comprehensive and politically feasible change.

100 Aussies: seven charts on who earns, pays, and owns

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.

Here's what should replace the $3 million super tax

With Div. 296 looming, is there a smarter way to tax superannuation? This proposes a fairer, income-linked alternative that respects compounding, ensures predictability, and avoids taxing unrealised capital gains. 

9 winning investment strategies

There are many ways to invest in stocks, but some strategies are more effective than others. Here are nine tried and tested investment approaches - choosing one of these can improve your chances of reaching your financial goals.

The rubbery numbers behind super tax concessions

In selling the super tax, Labor has repeated Treasury claims of there being $50 billion in super tax concessions annually, mostly flowing to high-income earners. This figure is vastly overstated.

With markets near record highs, here's what you should do with your portfolio

Markets have weathered geopolitical turmoil, hitting near record highs. Investors face tough decisions on valuations, asset concentration, and strategic portfolio rebalancing for risk control and future returns.

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