ACORNS Grow Australia, one of Australia’s successful fintechs, has welcomed today’s announcement that there will be a Royal Commission into in the banks.

George Lucas, Managing Director, Acorns Grow Australia, said, “We believe an inquiry into the banking industry may help the government achieve its goal of encouraging financial innovation in Australia and the associated positive result for all consumers. We hope this inquiry will aid in levelling the playing field in financial services. To have a strong banking industry doesn’t mean that the banks need to dominate in every financial service offered to the Australian public.”

Acorns Australia has seen rapid growth in 2017 as Australians look for alternative ways to save and invest. The company now has over a A$140 million funds under management and over 350,000 signups. Providing inexpensive access to automating savings, investing and improved financial literacy. Since launch users are generating an average return of 13.3% p.a.*

* From Feb 2016 – October 2017, the average user return is 13.3% p.a. after all fees (but before the $1.25 maintenance fee a month -calculated using IRR methodology) – past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the decision by Shell’s $1.7 billion QGC project Charlie to inject up to an additional 90 petajoules (PJ) of natural gas annually to Australian homes, businesses and LNG customers.

QRC Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane said the announcement coincided with the opening of Charlie in the Surat Basin which includes gas wells, pipelines and a gas compression station.

“Charlie created 1600 regional jobs during construction and today’s announcement will see enough natural gas flowing from the project to meet close to half of Queensland’s daily demand,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Charlie is yet another example of a successful investment into regional Queensland by the resources sector, where state and local governments and farmers support the gas industry, resulting in massive economic benefits for local and state governments as well as farmers and rural and regional communities.

“Queensland’s neighbours must take a leaf out of our book, instead of relying on our state to meet the gap caused by their failure to develop their own gas industries. Gas exploration has stalled in New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory, despite the fact all jurisdictions have their own reserves in the ground.

“According to the ACCC’s own data one PJ is enough gas to supply Wollongong or Penrith or one large industry user for a whole year.

“Shell’s QGC business will add $1.2 billion to the Chinchilla economy over the next 25 years and state wide the gas industry’s contribution to Queensland in 2016/17 was $8.9 billion, supporting 42,938 jobs and spending $3.4 billion in local businesses and community organisations.”

www.qrc.org.au

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THE Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) has welcomed the Royal Commission into Banks and Financial Services as part of a wider package of measures to improve banking for all Australians.

“The government has been emphasising competition as a key plank of improving the banking experience for consumers," BCCM CEO Melina Morrison said. "Before the Royal Commission was announced, it had taken steps to level the playing field for co-operative and mutual banks by accepting all eleven recommendations of the independent Hammond Review over ‘Reforms for Cooperatives, Mutuals and Member-owned Firms’.

“Whilst this Royal Commission is an important step to restoring the trust of all Australians, the government must continue to implement reforms supporting and promoting competition in the banking sector, including the legislative modernisation that will allow credit unions, building societies and mutual banks to meet the growing demand by Australians for an alternative to the shareholder-owned model.

“And we say to all Australians: if you are unhappy with the conduct of your bank, you don’t need to wait for the outcome of the Royal Commission either. The member- and customer-owned banks are award-winning alternatives who already put their customer-owners at the centre of their offering. You can find a mutual bank or credit union that works for you at www.switchdontbitch.com.au"

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AUSTRALIAN Defence companies are reminded that industry submissions for the second edition of Defence’s Australian Military Sales Equipment Catalogue must be received by tomorrow, November 30, 2017.

Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, said there was already high interest in the catalogue from all sectors of Australian defence industry.

“It is pleasing to see both small and medium-sized defence companies and primes across all states and territories have already submitted applications, all representing products and services from a diverse capability range.”

Mr Pyne reminded defence companies the guide will showcase and promote world class Australian products.

“As part of our national enterprise in defence industry, we want more Australian defence companies to be competitive in the global arena, so they can tender for international contracts and partake in global supply chains,” Mr Pyne said.

“I want this catalogue to be the go-to document for our Defence attaches overseas, and we want our friends and allies to have copies so they can see how great our Australian defence companies are.”

Applicants need to satisfy a number of criteria to be considered for entry, including:

•           the company is Australian,

•           the technology or service is Australian in origin and is used by Defence,

•           the product promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the design/build, and

•           the product is export-ready.

Further information on industry submission criteria and how to submit can be found at:www.defence.gov.au/casg/DoingBusiness/InternationalEngagementAndExportsSupport/AustralianMilitarySalesOffice/

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GROWTH in Indigenous employment in the Queensland resources sector has outstripped growth across the total resources sector workforce, doubling in 10 years.

According to the latest census data Indigenous workers in the sector stood at 908 in 2006 and rose to 2,007 in 2016.

Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane will today address the Indigenous employment and training forum at Myuma’s Dugalunji Training Camp near Camooweal, 180 kilometres north west of Mount Isa.

“As a sector we can always do more to train and develop Indigenous workers, but it’s encouraging to see that despite a slight fall in numbers across the sector in the last five years as a result of the downturn, Indigenous employment increased,” Mr Macfarlane said.

"In Mount Isa the number of Indigenous people working in the resources sector increased from 177 to 206 or 16 percent in the last five years. As a result, the proportion of Mount Isa’s employees in resources that are Indigenous has risen from 5.5 per cent to 7.4 percent.

“Every year the QRC recognises the enormous Indigenous contribution to the sector at our Indigenous Awards in Brisbane. It is our hope that the award winners will go on to be ambassadors for the sector, acting as role models and encouraging more Indigenous people to join our industry.”

In 2006, Indigenous people comprised 3 percent of the state’s workforce in resources, whereas in 2016, it had grown to 4 percent. Queensland’s Indigenous population is 4 per cent which places the resources sector as one of the few industries with a fair representation.

The forum at Myuma’s Dugalunji Camp was organised as one of the initiatives under a joint QRC and Queensland Government MoU to increase Indigenous participation in the resources sector - the partnership is in its 10th year.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE FORMATION of a new super union has been turbocharged by a massive vote by members of the Maritime Union of Australia and the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia in favour of amalgamating with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.

The unions report a massive 'yes' vote in both ballots.

The number of members who participated in the ballot were at historically high levels and the level of the yes vote was unprecedented.

In the case of the MUA, the vote was 87 percent 'yes', with one in every two members voting. This is higher than past internal MUA union elections of officers.

In the case of the TCFUA, the vote was 97 percent 'yes', with over 64 percent of members casting a vote.

TCFUA National Secretary Michele O’Neil said: “The overwhelming yes vote is a great, strong, clear outcome of this ballot. Our members come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, for many English is not their first language, and yet they turned out in numbers that left us in no doubt as to their views.

“This vote is clear and unequivocal and the Federal Government should now butt out of trying to overturn the democratic decision of our members about the future of our union. TCFUA members have voted to be part of a new, smart, strong, progressive force in the Australian trade union movement.”

Both unions conducted hundreds of workplace meetings across the eight week voting period. In many instances informational material relating to the ballot was provided in multiple languages.

MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said: “This is at the core of trade union and labour rights — individual member exercising their democratic decision making and democratic control of their union. Our members have spoken: they want a strong, independent and progressive union.

“This vote sets a new course for the amalgamated Union. It makes us more diverse and representative in so many ways. It increases the number of women in our union, it make us more culturally diverse, it expands the industries in which we work on a day to day basis and it opens us up to new challenges and new opportunities. It ensures that we will continue to reflect the great trade union and national heritage of building diversity along with economic, industrial, political, and social needs of working women and men in their Australian community.”

CFMEU National Secretary Michael O’Connor said: “This vote sends a clear message to the Turnbull government to respect not undermine the democratic decisions of union members in the running of their unions.

“It’s a total repudiation of suggestions by the government that this was not in those members’ interests. Those members have spoken unequivocally and with overwhelming determination on where their interests reside.”

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THE Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s new approach to tackling multinational tax avoidance has been backed by the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

The OECD’s Multilateral Tax Treaty is the most significant reform in international efforts to prevent tax avoidance in many years.

Committee Chair, Stuart Robert MP, said that multinational tax avoidance costs OECD countries between US$100 billion and US$240 billion each year.

“Multinationals use complex legal arrangements to avoid their tax obligations. The Treaty will allow countries to target these arrangements and claim the revenue they are due,” Mr Robert said.

The Treaty will target common loopholes used by multinationals.

Targets will include multinationals that use low tax countries to declare profits, engage agents to sell products in higher tax countries, and package and warehouse goods in low tax countries to avoid tax in the country where the goods are made.

The Multilateral Tax Treaty will allow the new measures to be applied swiftly using Australia’s existing tax treaties.

“The new measures will initially apply to 30 of Australia’s 44 bi-lateral tax treaties,” Mr Roberts said.

The Committee’s views are contained in its Report 175, tabled today, which also deals with:

• Framework Agreement on the establishment of the International Solar Alliance;
• Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of Mauritius relating to Air Services;
• Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the State of Israel relating to Air Services; and
• Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Hungary relating to Air Services.

The Committee supports the ratification of all treaties.

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website. 

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THE effectiveness of regulation aimed at stabilising and strengthening the world’s banking industry is still unknown nearly a decade after the global financial crisis, according to a leading finance sector researcher at the University of Sydney Business School.

Associate Professor Eliza Wu made the comment ahead of the arrival in Sydney of the world’s leading banking experts and banking regulators for the Business School’s 2017 Banking and Financial Stability Conference.

“The fact is that we don’t know what effect these regulations, including Basel iii and iv, will have in the medium to long term,” said Dr Wu. “We don’t know if the sector is over regulated or if we need more controls.

“Here in Australia, regulators have been working to cool the lending market. We are also concerned about the banking sector’s exposure to the real estate market and the lack of regulatory oversight of the fintech and peer to peer lending sectors,” she said.

The Future of Banking Regulation will be the focus of the Conference’s Policy Panel Discussion between the Bank of Finland’s Dr Iikka Korhonen, Dr Frank Packer of the Bank for International Settlements and Mr. Aidan O’Shaughnessy of the Australian Bankers’ Association.

The key note address, to be delivered by Professor Steven Ongena, Professor of Banking, University of Zurich, will focus on the Spillovers of Macroprudential Policies.

“The heavily disrupted world of banking and finance is evolving very quickly and the regulators and often industry operators themselves, exist under an unforgiving regime of catch-up. That’s why this conference is crucial,” said Dr Wu.

Conference Details;

Date:               Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd of December 2017

Venue:             University of Sydney Business School, Abercrombie Building (H70)

                        Cnr Codrington and Abercrombie Streets, Darlington

Contact:           Trevor Watson 0418 648 099 or Laura Box 0431 860 844

Website           Sydney Banking and Financial Stability Conference

Conference Highlights:

Friday 1st December 2017

8.45-9.30 External Financing of Last Resort? Bank Lines of Credit as a Source of Long-term Finance. Presenter: Professor Ron Masulis, UNSW Business School

9.30-10.15 Presidential Power and Shareholder Wealth Presenter: Professor Nadia Massoud, Melbourne Business School

10.45-11.30 Commercial Bank Failures During The Great Recession: The Real (Estate) Story Presenter: Dr Adonis Antoniades, National University of Singapore

11.30-12.30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Professor Steven Ongena, Professor of Banking, University of Zurich - Spillovers of Macroprudential Policies

1.30-2.30 POLICY PANEL DISCUSSION: The Future of Banking Regulation

Dr Iikka Korhonen (Bank of Finland), Dr Frank Packer (Bank for International Settlements) & Mr. Aidan O’Shaughnessy (Australian Bankers’ Association)

Chair & Moderator: Associate Professor Eliza Wu.

2.30-3.15 Marketplace Lending in Australia Presenter: Dr Andrew Grant, University of Sydney Business School

3.45-4.30 Sharing the Pain? Credit Supply and Real Effects of Bank Bail-ins

Presenter: Professor Thorsten Beck, Professor of Banking and Finance, Cass Business School

4.30-5.15 Where are the Large Banks? Stress Tests and Small Business Lending Presenter: Dr Kristle Cortes, UNSW Business School

5.15-6.00 Chair: Off-balance Sheet Securitization, Bank Lending and Corporate Innovation Presenter: Dr Zhaoxia Xu, UNSW Business School

Saturday 2nd December 2017

9.00-9.45 On the International Effects of Country-Specific Financial Sector Bailouts Presenter: Dr Matthew Greenwood-Nimmo, University of Melbourne

9.45-10.30 Personal Trading by Brokers, Analysts and Fund Managers Presenter: Associate Professor Joakim Westerholm, University of Sydney Business School

11.00-11.45 Geopolitics and International Bank Flows Presenter: Dr Phong Ngo, Australian National University

11.45-12.30 The Impact of Risk-based Capital Rules on Income Inequality: Global Evidence Presenter: Professor Iftekhar Hasan, Fordham University; Bank of Finland & University of Sydney Business School 

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