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 Business School’s 2017 Banking and Financial Stability Conference to be attended by leading banking experts and banking regulators.

The two day Conference, which begins tomorrow, will be held in the wake of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement of a banking royal commission.

“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 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           http://sydney.edu.au/business/finance/banking_and_financial_stability

Conference Highlights:

Friday 1 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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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement of a Royal Commission into the banking sector.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell said she hoped the inquiry would examine past cases where small businesses had been unfairly treated.

Ms Carnell said her Small Business Loans inquiry earlier this year had identified numerous cases where small businesses had suffered from questionable conduct.

“The asymmetry in power between the banks and small businesses, together with the conduct of banks particularly since the global financial crisis in 2008, has left many small businesses in a devastating financial position,” she said.

“Many have lost their businesses as well as their family homes, with no prospect until now of obtaining access to justice.

“I’ve been concerned that in some cases there may have been unconscionable behaviour by the banks and this should be examined in the Royal Commission.”

Ms Carnell said there had been significant progress in the past few years towards changing the behaviour of banks, including Unfair Contract Terms legislation and the establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

“What’s been missing is the capacity to review past disputes and award compensation,” she said.

“It’s not acceptable that banks called in loans where repayments were up to date.

“Businesses were forced to close, people lost their jobs and entire communities suffered adverse impacts.

“The contract clauses were so one sided there was no constraint on the banks to stop them foreclosing on loans that didn’t fit their risk profile.”

Ms Carnell said the Small Business Loans Inquiry heard cases that clearly showed banks deliberately employed systematic poor and unreasonable behaviour to terminate business loans.

The power imbalance meant small businesses had been denied access to justice.

“Many settlements occurred under duress because borrowers had little choice but to accept the bank’s offer,” she said.

“They could not refinance because cash resources had been drained, they were facing penalty interest and had no negotiating power.

“I hope the Royal Commission probes these past cases and recommends compensation for those who were unfairly treated.”

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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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