Financial Services

Commonwealth Bank-owned Bankwest is slashing its three-year owner-occupier mortgage rate as lenders chase an ever decreasing number of suitable home loan customers.

The Israel Securities Authority says Israel may expand its dual-listing arrangements to include Australia as it tries to connect with more foreign markets and draw investors to recover trading volumes lost a decade ago.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia's provisioning for customer remediation and responding to the royal commission has passed $2 billion after the lender set aside another $714 million in the third quarter.

Independent corporate advisory firm Azure Capital has announced two major changes, with French banking group Natixis buying a majority stake while sister company Azure Consulting will be bought out by its four partners.

Westpac has held its interim dividend despite the cost of refunding customers helping drag down first-half profit by 22 per cent to $3.296 billion.

National Australia Bank has slashed its dividend to its lowest in almost nine years after posting a first-half cash profit of $2.95 billion.

ANZ Banking Group has beaten expectations to lift first-half cash profit two per cent to $3.56 billion but warned subdued credit growth, competition and compliance costs will keep bank sector earnings under pressure "for the foreseeable future".

Pioneer Credit’s shares have surged 27.4 per cent to close at $2.51 each, after the company confirmed it has received a takeover proposal at a “material premium” to its current share price.

National Australia Bank says it will cop an extra $525 million after-tax hit through new customer remediation costs, mostly related to its wealth arm.

The corporate regulator has banned a Perth accountant from providing financial services for six years after an investigation found he bought and sold shares for clients so companies could meet the minimum requirement to be listed on the stock exchange.

Housing finance provider Australian Finance Group says lending for homes in the first three months of 2019 in Western Australia has plunged to the lowest level since it began tracking mortgage values in mid-2012.

A former insurance broker who admitted funnelling almost $200,000 owed to clients into his own bank accounts has been sentenced to two years and nine months imprisonment.

Deloitte is expanding its Perth change management services, acquiring two new partners and 22 staff from The Terrace Initiative.

AP Eagers has made a takeover bid for Automotive Holdings Group, which values the struggling West Perth-based car retailer at around $635.4 million.

Perth-based P&N Bank has agreed to merge with its smaller east coast counterpart bcu, creating one of the largest customer-owned banks in Australia with $6 billion of assets.

IOOF managing director Christopher Kelaher has left the business, as the beleaguered wealth manager focuses on restoring trust amid a shareholder class action and court action by the prudential regulator.

Former Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev has been appointed chief operating officer of online jobs advertiser Seek.

ANZ Banking Group chief executive Shayne Elliott says structural issues and internal processes should cop the brunt of the blame for misconduct across the banking sector, and not a few people with bad intentions.

National Australia Bank has scrapped a contentious program under which people including gym instructors and hairdressers were paid commissions for loans they pitched to their customers.

Westpac is setting aside a further $260 million for customer remediation, taking its total to $659 million with fees-for-no-service refunds yet to come.

AMP has scrapped short-term cash bonuses and cut directors' fees in an effort to avoid a second shareholder strike on remuneration and possible board spill at May's annual general meeting.

The last of the 19 civil actions brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on behalf of a number of investors in the Westpoint Group has been finalised.

Westpac is selling its personal financial advice business as Australia's second-biggest bank exits the scandal-hit sector, and the bank's consumer boss George Frazis is set to leave.

IOOF Holdings faces a class action over the beleaguered wealth manager's alleged failure to tell shareholders about APRA's concern over possible breaches of superannuation laws.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is suspending the demerger of its mortgage broking and wealth management businesses to focus on customer remediation and implementing the recommendations of the royal commission.

AMP Capital has acquired a 50 per cent ownership stake in the private company that developed Optus Stadium, adding to several other infrastructure assets it has purchased in Western Australia including Kalgoorlie prison and Port Hedland airport.

Perth-based Matthew Woods will be the joint leader of KPMG's greatly expanded insolvency practice after the 'Big 4' accounting firm finalised a deal to acquire Ferrier Hodgson. The merged entity will have 27 partners nationally and be the largest practice in WA.

WA Super has confirmed a memorandum of understanding has been signed with two other superannuation funds to create an entity that would manage around $23 billion in assets for about 347,000 members.

Mortgage brokers will continue receiving trail commissions beyond 2020 under a federal coalition government, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg revealing a plan to scrap them has been dropped.

QBE Insurance has been ordered to pay $10 million to a Perth investor who was a client of stockbroking firm Stripe Capital and former Perth broker Todd King.

NAB shares have opened strongly with investors apparently welcoming the lender's appointment of Philip Chronican as chairman.

The Reserve Bank has kept the official cash rate at a record low of 1.5 per cent despite noting Australian economic growth probably slowed in the second half of 2018.