THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will conduct public hearings on 11, 12 and 19 October in Canberra as part of its ongoing scrutiny of Australia’s four major banks.

The chair of the committee, Tim Wilson MP, said, "These hearings will provide an important opportunity to scrutinise the bank CEOs following the shocking revelations of the Royal Commission."

Mr Wilson said, "Commissioner Hayne’s Interim Report identified incentives in banks against the interest of customers that has led to appalling conduct contrary to law. Yet, this misconduct has either gone unpunished, or the consequences have not met the seriousness of what has occurred and must be addressed.

"These hearings will also be an important opportunity to follow up on unresolved issues from earlier hearings; and to consider how best to ensure appalling behaviour is not repeated without inhibiting the banks’ essential contribution to grease our economy."

The hearing will be webcast live at aph.gov.au/live

PUBLIC HEARING DETAILS

Day 1: CBA and Westpac, Thursday, 11 October 2018, Main Committee Room, Parliament House, Canberra
CBA: 9.15am to 12.15pm
Westpac: 1.15pm to 4.15pm

Day 2: ANZ, Friday, 12 October 2018, Main Committee Room, Parliament House, Canberra
ANZ: 9.15am to 12.15pm

Day 3: NAB, Friday, 19 October 2018, Main Committee Room, Parliament House, Canberra
NAB: 9.15am to 12.15pm

Website: aph.gov.au/economics

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PRUDENTIAL Investment Company of Australia Pty Limited Group (PICA Group) has acquired Ace Body Corporate Management (Ace), effective immediately. This announcement marks the most significant acquisition in Australian strata management history according to the companies involved.

The acquisition sees PICA Group obtaining the franchisor rights to 118 nationally operating Ace franchised branches, as well as full ownership and management of Ace’s largest franchise branch in Melbourne. With more than 200,000 lots already under PICA Group’s management, this will add another 60,000 lots to its portfolio of residential, commercial and mixed-use properties.

PICA Group is Australia’s largest strata management company, operating 15 well-known brands including Body Corporate Services (BCS), NSW Strata Management, Dynamic Property Services, GK Strata Management, Robinson Strata Management, Mason and Brophy Strata Management, Somerville Strata Management and All Strata Services, across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Greg Nash, managing director and Group CEO, of PICA Group said, “This acquisition will allow PICA Group to expand our range of property and strata management services nationally. Ace is a great strata brand with a great team of strata professionals.

"We are delighted to welcome the Ace team into the PICA Group family."

In response, Stephen Raff, CEO of Ace Body Corporate Management said, “For our franchise operations, leveraging PICA Group’s strengths enables us to offer additional services such as facilities management, repairs and maintenance services, energy savings and sustainability initiatives such as NABERS for Apartment Building assessments, behind-the-door services and a more varied range of insurance products to almost 3.4 million residents.

"This includes utilising PICA Group’s newly developed Urbanise cloud-based software and services platform to automate administrative and operational functions to vastly improve the overall customer service experience”.

According to Australian National Strata Data 2018 report, about 9 percent of Australia’s population live in apartments, and this is expected to increase with the current property trends. Improved building compliance and common property management is therefore becoming ever more important.

“Our vision is to be at the forefront of driving industry change in order to enhance community living for our many customers," Mr Nash said

Key Facts and Figures

- PICA Group manages approx 220,000 lots nationwide
- Ace manages about 60,000 lots nationwide
- The acquisition of Ace puts PICA in a dominant market position
- The property portfolio of PICA now amounts to the same number of strata properties in some states

About PICA Group

PICA Group is a leading property services company managing the largest strata management portfolio in Australia. As a market leader, the company aims to continuously redefine the experience of owning a community property for the better through a range of businesses offering strata management, facilities management, receivables management and property developer services. PICA has more than 700 staff and 30 branch offices across nearly 12,000 strata properties which include residential, commercial, resorts, and mixed-use complexes. PICA's 70-year history in the Australian market makes PICA Group one of the most experienced strata management providers in the country.
www.picagroup.com.au

About Ace Body Corporate Management
Ace Body Corporate Management has been operating for more than 23 years, of which 118 franchised areas are supported by more than 250 personnel. With about 60,000 lots under management the company has a strong national presence in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
www. acebodycorp.com.au

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THE Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) has released an Issues Paper: Review of Retail Payments Regulation: Stored-Value Facilities.

The Issues Paper is part of a review into the regulatory regime for ‘stored value facilities’, which are payment products that allow users to pre-load money for future purchases (such as a travel money card).

While the CFR’s review will primarily consider how stored-value facilities are regulated, the review will also focus on identifying opportunities for improvements or clarification to other aspects of the regulation of retail payments service providers retail payments regulation. The CFR intends to provide recommendations to streamline and enhance regulation while ensuring appropriate consumer protections.

ASIC is encouraging interested stakeholders to view the CFR’s Issues Paper and consider making a submission to the review. Submissions are due by 19 October 2018. A copy of the Issues Paper and details on how to make a submission can be found on the CFR website.

The CFR review

The CFR’s review follows recommendations relating to the regulation of retail payments service providers retail payments regulation in the final report of the 2014 Financial System Inquiry and the Productivity Commission’s 2018 report following its Inquiry into Competition in the Australian Financial System.

A Working Group involving representatives of the CFR agencies – the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the Commonwealth Treasury and ASIC – was established earlier in 2018 to undertake the review and to make recommendations on the regulatory framework for stored-value facilities and related services.

A particular area of interest to ASIC in the Issues Paper is ensuring the regulatory framework contains appropriate consumer protections.

Background

The CFR coordinates Australia’s key financial regulatory agencies and has the roles of contributing to the effectiveness and efficiency of financial regulation and promoting stability in the financial system. It is made up of the RBA (as Chair), APRA, Treasury and ASIC.

www.asic.gov.au

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THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) believes August trade figures released on October 5 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) represent the quiet boost in consumer confidence, with August seeing a 3.77 percent total year-on-year increase.

Russell Zimmerman, Executive Director of the ARA, said August’s trade figures were driven by the launch of new season products and the confidence seen in the change in Prime Minister.

“We can see there was a slight uptick in consumer confidence around August with cafés, restaurants and takeaway food services showing the strongest year-on-year growth at 5 percent,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“Clothing, footwear and personal accessories also saw a strong 4 percent year-on-year growth this August as some confidence returned to consumers after receiving their tax refunds.”

The ARA believes these strong mid-year figures are also a consequence from the psychological effect of the personal tax cuts coming into play from July this year.

“This quiet consumer confidence can be seen across various retail categories with consumers rewarding themselves with little luxuries across the market,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“Department stores saw solid growth in August with this retail category reaching 2 percent year-on-year growth - the biggest increase they’ve seen since May this year.”

Tasmania (6.20%) led the country in August trade, with Victoria (5.93%), South Australia (4.70%), New South Wales (4.28%) and the Australian Capital Territory (4.20%) not far behind. Queensland (2.39%) remained steady in August, whereas the Northern Territory (0.04%) received minimal growth and Western Australia (-0.99%) unfortunately remained in negative territory for the fourth month in a row.

“This quiet growth is somewhat comforting for all retailers across Australia, especially leading up to Christmas,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“We hope this boost in consumer confidence and discretionary spend flows through to the end of year where retailers are hoping to see their biggest trade yet.”

Monthly Retail Growth (July 2018 - August 2018 seasonally adjusted) 

Department stores (0.87%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.79%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.70%), Other retailing (0.37%), Household goods retailing (0.20%) and Food retailing (-0.02%).

South Australia (0.78%), Tasmania (0.61%), New South Wales (0.52%), Victoria (0.23%), Australian Capital Territory (0.18%), Queensland (0.07%), Western Australia (-0.03%), and Northern Territory (-1.32%).

Total sales (0.29%).

Year-on-Year Retail Growth (August 2017 – August 2018 seasonally adjusted)

Cafés, restaurants and takeaway food services (5.01%), Food retailing (4.34%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (4.05%), Other retailing (3.43%), Household goods retailing (2.16%) and Department stores (2.04%).

Tasmania (6.20%), Victoria (5.93%), South Australia (4.70%), New South Wales (4.28%), Australian Capital Territory (4.20%), Queensland (2.39%), Northern Territory (0.04%) and Western Australia (-0.99%),

Total sales (3.77%).

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is Australia’s largest retail association, representing the country’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. As Australia’s leading retail peak industry body, the ARA is a strong pro-active advocate for Australian retail and works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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