IvanM

The AUD has dropped 20% which implies that people are getting their money out of the country. Australia is better placed than elsewhere however home loan lenders have nearly collapsed here. (RAMS). The non bank lending market has nearly died.

At the moment NAB and ANZ are considered to be the ones with something ugly in the cupboard. CBA and Westpac are out of the rumour mill.

HSBC is also an option with a good credit rating and an enourmous savings base.

The drop in the AUD also makes it much more expensive for Aussie banks to borrow from abroad and just like in the US/UK China and Japan is where the money came from to fuel the housing boom.

The drop in the AUD will also push up inflation here as imports will now go up in price. The high AUD was protecting Australia from the worst of the oil price.

Australian housing is still much higher than UK housing when compared to income and mortgage approvals are dropping. The dropping mortgage approvals mean less money chasing housing. Dropping house prices and a dropping economy will now start to happen. Maybe we are just a year behind the US and UK but I bloody hope not as the recession in the early 90s here was tough.

IvanM

It really rankles me that banks are getting funded for failure. The problem is that the part of the economy that actually produces needs bank funding to get projects underway, businesses started, houses built blah blah. I like the idea of partial nationalisation and bonus elimination. Governments cannot let the stupidity of *ankers screw the rest of the economy.

So far central banks are making a fortune lending to banks.

IvanM

It is not the type of bank but the level of exposure to bad debt. Freddie and Fannie were not investment banks but mortgage houses.

Those that are best placed now have very high levels of deposits and do not need to tap the market for short term money.

Wol

I've been recommending Nationwide for years - but they have now stopped replacing credit cards if you live in Australia "Because of security concerns".

FiP

If the banks here are so sure of themselves and their ratings (AIG was highly rated as a financial institution and that changed) then surely they wouldn't have any opposition to supporting the government in a guarantee scheme.

If Australia wants to attract investment from overseas and be considered as serious worldwide financial player then a guarantee would help.

I understand bank workers will try to defend their institutions but it doesn't help their customers ot the worlds perception of Australia in the financial arena.

donovandenese

reckon its best to spread any cash across a few of the big banks - worst case u will lose a bit but not all

benlast

And interestingly (according to my financial advisor and some others I've been discussing stuff with today) the banks and institutions that are seen as "safe" are experiencing a significant influx of deposits. So a positive feedback effect is benefiting them.

For example, because the markets have dropped so much, there's a lot of investment going into ISAs right now to get units at a lower price.

Cheers
b

TillyG

That's what we're going to do. We've got $30k on its way to us so might split it 2 or 3 ways. Will need to open a "regular" account with the other bank(s) though in order to have a savings account - we're with ANZ currently ($5 per month) but CBA have a $4 one and Westpac have a $3 one so will go see them in the next week or 2

carlap

Has anybody got links to a site with info about the Oz banks similar to www.thisismoney.co.uk
They have some great article such as http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bank-strength where you can check credit ratings etc

Of interest with the talk of takeovers is the ownership of the banks (you get compensated once per institution, not per bank)
http://img.thisismoney.co.uk/i/pix/2...MM_670x360.jpg

I decided to go for Kaupthing, rather than Icesave because of the compo scheme - so glad I had the extra info to hand. Now getting money out of Kaupthing.

Don't want to be obsessed by it, but easy access to the info would be great.

bcworld

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news...145485536.html

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's chief spokeswoman expressed outrage today at reports that AIG executives spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a spa retreat after the US government rescued the firm.

She spoke after US MPs were told that AIG spent more than $US440,000 ($A620,592) for an executive getaway at a California beach resort just days after the insurance giant was rescued by an $US85 billion ($A119.89 billion) US government loan.

Rankled??

DrWho

Yes, it's not bad is it... and you can bet your ass when it comes to having straightened all this out and refloating comes along the return on investment is going to be very tidy indeed...

I liked Robert Peston's idea for all this... about putting the money used through the pension system so that when pay day comes around it ends up back where we'll be needing it most in the future... looking after the oldies...

EnjoyLife

Actually, the "world's perception of Australia" is pretty positive right now.

This is what the International Monetary Fund had to say yesterday about Australlia:

"The International Monetary Fund has delivered a positive forecast for Australia despite the deepening global credit crisis, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
Overnight, the IMF released its world economic outlook, saying Australia was unlikely to slip into recession.
“Positive growth with a two in front of it for ‘09,” Mr Rudd told reporters in summing up the IMF report card today.
“Furthermore, you see that reflected in the different projections on unemployment for those major, advanced economies.”
Mr Rudd went on to highlight a report on the soundness of Australian banks from the World Economic Forum.
Australia is ranked fourth out of 134 and to put that into context the UK ranks at number 44, the United States number 40 and Germany at number 39."

Now that may not be your perception ... But I think the IMF might just be a bit more clued in than you are.

E.

IvanM

This is what will affect Australia

http://business.smh.com.au/business/...1009-4x8l.html

benlast

Hmm... unless you can keep appropriate minimum balances in all the accounts (including the current ones), won't the fees mount up a bit? Might even wipe out the interest.

Cheers
b

TillyG

Yup, possibly. I need to do some more research into the interest rates etc. I think we have 7% with the ANZ savings acct we currently have. I really need to work out how interest is calculated (I know it's not as simple as saying "30000 / 100 x 7 and then divided by 12... shame really, as I can work that one out LOL)