Finance Insider

The demand for credit coming from Australian small businesses declined sharply during June, with asset finance demand plunging 21 per cent. Market research firm Veda Advantage, which publishes the commercial credit index, the result of which show that demand by SME’s during the June quarter fell by 5.6 per cent compared to the same time period during the previous year, and also fell by another 2.1 per cent in July.

The implications of a proposed merger between Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland is still being weighed by financial markets, who have yet to bestow their blessing on such a deal. A report in The Australian suggested that the chairmen of the two lenders met recently to discuss the potential for a merger which would be valued at $5.5 billion.

Australia’s largest banks are using high introductory online savings rates to attract retail deposits and expand their deposit bases. Despite the high introductory rates, the lenders later aggressively cut back their deposit rates in order to preserve their profit margins. The investment bank Macquarie conducted an analysis of the online savings market which found that the big four Australian lenders, as well as some international rivals were offering introductory rates that were as much as 200 basis points higher than the 4.5 per cent official cash rate.

Australian insurance major QBE has moved to end speculation that its chief executive is poised to step down. QBE chief Frank O'Halloran has run the company for the last twelve years, and the insurer says that he would continue in that role "for the foreseeable future". Rumours of Mr. O’Halloran’s departure ricocheted around the insurance industry this week, when speculation began to emerge that Mr. O’Halloran would hand over the reigns of the company to Peter Harmer, a senior executive at insurance broker AON.

Australian banking major ANZ, has been named by a financial research firm as the lender which provided the best value banking service for small business. Despite the accolade, ANZ has not managed to convince all the decision makers in the business sector, and still lags behind rivals. Canstar in issuing the award said certain product features that matter a great deal to small business provided by ANZ including credit facilities and loans. But this has yet to translate into higher customer satisfaction levels with the bank.