A new report has shown that Australia’s economic growth will continue to slow down amid the recent turmoil in the global banking system. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index rose slightly from -1.04 percent in January to -0.94 percent in February. This is the seventh consecutive month that the growth rate has remained in negative territory….

The expectation of upcoming hikes in interest rates has caused confidence to fall significantly among households having a mortgage in recent months. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index dropped 0.9 percent to 95.8 points in April, reaching the lowest level since September 2020, when fears of the COVID-19 pandemic were dominating. An index below 100…

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has launched six civil penalty proceedings against Westpac bank for multiple alleged compliance failures, including charging over 11,000 deceased customers for services. The allegations came after several independent ASIC investigations during 2021 and were against Westpac’s banking, superannuation, and other businesses. Westpac admitted to all allegations and agreed…

The Reserve Bank of Australia has retained the cash rate at 0.1 percent for the 12th month after its monthly board meeting, despite mounting inflation and rate hikes by the big four banks. The bank has frequently stated that the cash rate will not be raised until inflation is sustainably between 2 to 3 percent,…

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.8 percent in the September quarter, in line with economists’ expectations, and 3 percent annually. The quarterly increase was driven by the rising fuel costs (7.1 percent) and housing construction (3.3 percent). “Construction input costs such as timber increased due to…

Despite an alarming jump in Australian petrol prices in the last couple of weeks to new peaks, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said they are focused on the medium to long-term in regards to inflation. The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence and inflation expectations saw inflation expectations jump 0.3 percentage points to 5 percent,…

A government taskforce involving the big four banks, peak bodies, and Australia Post will examine the impact of regional bank branch closures on the local communities, businesses, and industries. Regionalisation Minister Bridget McKenzie said it would provide a platform to determine how changes in the banking industry have affected regional communities. “Having access to bank…