Daily Dispatches: the banana smoothie bank
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has chastised Westpac for sending an email to customers justifying its recent interest rate hike by comparing the bank to a business selling banana smoothies. In the email, the bank likens itself to businesses selling banana smoothies after storms decimated banana plantations and forced the price of the fruit to rise dramatically. (Independent Weekly)
The head of the Reserve Bank has warned Australians will pay more to borrow money because of new rules being imposed in response to the global financial crisis. In a speech squarely aimed at global regulators, Glenn Stevens criticised some of the key controls being planned for banks around the world. (ABC)
ANZ Bank has long-term aspirations to displace National Australia Bank as the market leader in agribusiness banking, after acquiring the Landmark Financial Services loan and deposit books from AWB yesterday. (The Australian)
BT Investment Management's (BTIM) chairman Brian Scullin said that the company has a clear business strategy and will look to diversify its business both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. The firm also announced yesterday that it has hired two investment professionals. (Investor Daily)
Suncorp Metway and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will double the size of their automatic teller machine networks under a proposed partnership announced today. (The Age)
