BFCSA Blog

Revealed: Treasury Given Confidential Information About RBS Investigation Ahead Of Share Firesale   “This information is not in the public domain and we would be grateful if you could ensure it is kept confidential.”   13 October 2016   https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomwarren/keep-it-confidential?utm_term=.tljMzPQvB#.siLYgkA7P   Top Treasury officials obtained confidential information about a regulatory investigation into the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland in order to help fix the timing of a massive sale of government shares, BuzzFeed News can reveal.   Internal emails show that John Kingman, second in command at the Treasury, sought and received information that was not publicly available about the timing of the Financial Conduct Authority’s ongoing investigation into RBS’s alleged abuse of small businesses from the head of the regulator, Martin Wheatley.   The tip-off “in the light of potential sales of RBS shares” was used to help time the shotgun sale of a £2.1 billion stake in the bank at...

The Dash For Cash: Leaked Files Reveal RBS Systematically Crushed British Businesses For Profit   The RBS Files expose the bank’s secret scheme to boost revenues during the financial crisis by draining businesses of cash and stripping their assets, blowing apart its previous statements to the public and parliament.   10 October 2016   https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/dash-for-cash?utm_term=.ni8qxYDzN#.re4L5OexB   The Royal Bank of Scotland killed or crippled thousands of businesses during the recession as a result of a deliberate plan to add billions of pounds to its balance sheet, according to a leaked cache of thousands of secret documents.  The RBS Files – revealed today by BuzzFeed News and BBC Newsnight – lay bare the secret policies under which firms were pushed into the bank’s feared troubled-business unit, Global Restructuring Group (GRG), which chased profits by hitting them with massive fees and fines and by snapping up their assets at rock-bottom prices.  The internal...

  Najib Cracked Down on Free Speech to Limit 1MDB Fallout, Journalist Says June 06, 2016, 05:55:00 AM EDT By Dow Jones Business News   http://www.nasdaq.com/article/najib-cracked-down-on-free-speech-to-limit-1mdb-fallout-journalist-says-20160606-00085   A senior Malaysian journalist who quit his job at a leading newspaper said Prime Minister Najib Razak's government has cracked down on freedom of speech as it tries to limit the fallout from a graft scandal surrounding a state investment fund. Mustapha Kamil, the former group editor of the English-language New Straits Times, which is controlled by Mr. Najib's ruling party, took a rare public stance by saying that an increasingly "authoritarian" stand by the government toward media was the reason he quit the newspaper in April. He had worked there for more than a quarter-century. Mr. Mustapha initially remained quiet after stepping down, but last week posted the reasons for his action on his Facebook page—an unusual act in the closed world of...

THE SATURDAY PAPER https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2016/07/16/andrew-wilkie-and-the-chilcot-inquiry/14685912003499 Andrew Wilkie and the Chilcot inquiry Intelligence officer turned whistleblower and politician Andrew Wilkie is calling for Australia to conduct its own.  Wilkie: a Man with Integrity Plus. Martin McKenzie-Murray 16 June 2016 https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2016/07/16/andrew-wilkie-and-the-chilcot-inquiry/14685912003499   It was 2002 and Andrew Wilkie knew war was coming. But in his secured office, as he studied satellite images and the field reports of spies, he grew doubtful about its legitimacy. A former Australian soldier, Wilkie was an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, and he had become concerned about what seemed to be an irreconcilable gap between the intelligence on Iraq – which offered very little evidence of a threat – and the bellicosity of the political pronouncements about the danger of Saddam Hussein.  “The whole thing was fundamentally flawed. And Howard’s argument about ambiguity is flawed.” In Britain, The Sun carried the headline “Brits 45 minutes from...

The bribe factory: getting the story   31 March 2016 Michael Bachelard   http://www.smh.com.au/national/how-bribe-factory-unaoil-tried-to-stop-us-telling-their-secrets-20160331-gnutfc.html   The letter arrived via snail mail, and it read like a page from a Le Carre spy thriller. Hear Nick McKenzie recount how he exposed the world's biggest bribery scandal.   Read the full day two expose here    http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2016/the-bribe-factory/day-2/global-investigation.html The dirty western executives    Australia's Leighton Offshore: dirty dealing in Iraq Big Oil's bribe factory Until the moment Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post hit the publish button at 10pm on Wednesday, AEDT, revealing how the oil industry really works, our investigative team was on tenterhooks.  This was more than simple pre-publication nerves, the questions we invariably ask ourselves about whether we have got it right, and what we had missed in the hundreds of thousands of documents we'd read over the previous months. No, our concern was more specific: that an Australian court, an unsympathetic judge,...

All BFCSA Members should pay particular attention to their Savings/Cheque account statements. I've now had a few listings of "DEBIT INTEREST CHARGED " on my ANZ statements. The Charge has only been $0.06 or a little more each time. My account has never been overdrawn yet the ANZ try to tell me that it has but I can't see when it occurred as it doesn't show up on the statements. I'll refer it to FOS but we all know that that is a waste of time !!!!!!!! They love the Banksters. All these little amounts collected illegally makes a nice profit for the bank. The ANZ Loan is full of FRAUD. The LAF is laughable and now they are getting very creative with our deposit account too....

Here is the full article on Rotten Australian Banks and Banking System:  Bunch of Robbers at CEO level! ASIC has shown its systemic incompetence DateApril 17, 2015 Jeff Morris   COMMENT ''ASIC throws whistleblowers to the wolves and tries to pretend they don't exist.'' Photo: Jim Rice ANZ says administrative error behind $30m compensation  Adele Ferguson: Banks' rotten financial planning structure is teetering After ASIC's exposure as a "weak and hesitant regulator" in the Senate Inquiry last year, it has ramped up its activity level and is now desperate to look like it is doing its job. God alone knows how an organisation can demonstrate such systemic incompetence yet survive without significant personnel changes. But this latest revelation on unearned fees did not come about due to institutional honesty and self-disclosure, or due to ASIC's "after the horse has bolted – let's try and save our skins " review of the six major institutions. This...

Leave politics out of the G20 October 13, 2014 Ajay Kamalakaran   Any attempt to isolate Russia from the grouping of the world’s 20 largest economies will have serious repercussions on global economic recovery and growth..............   http://in.rbth.com/blogs/2014/10/13/leave_politics_out_of_the_g20_38991.html   Ever since Crimea rejoined Russia, Australian politicians, probably at the prodding of their American masters, have called to exclude Vladimir Putin from the G20 summit which will be hosted in Brisbane in November. The BRICS foreign ministers made a statement in March denouncing an attempt to leave Russia out of the G20 summit. They said in a joint statement that “the custodianship of the G20 belongs to all Member States equally and no one Member State can unilaterally determine its nature and character.” The Aussies probably did not calculate on opposition from 3 of the biggest economies in the G20! Australia also jumped on the sanctions bandwagon against Russia, since it claims...

George Osborne and Mark Carney to play financial crash 'war game'  -  Chancellor and BoE Governor will be joined by US counterparts for exercise designed to end 'too big to fail' By Szu Ping Chan, in Washington 11:01PM BST 10 Oct 2014 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/11155381/George-Osborne-and-Mark-Carney-to-play-financial-crash-war-game.html A financial crash to rival the one caused by Lehman Brothers' collapse will be played out by the world’s most powerful central bankers next week, in a “war game” designed to help end the “too big to fail” problem.  In the first simulation of its kind, Janet Yellen, the head of the US Federal Reserve, and Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, will be joined by Chancellor George Osborne and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who will be tested on their reaction to a major US or UK bank failure. The exercise, designed by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, forms part of a...

http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/07/04/regulation-by-mateship-ian-and-mathias-show-the-way-in-financial-planning/ Regulation by mateship — Ian and Mathias show the way in financial planning   Bernard Keane|Jul 04, 2014 1:02PM   We’re headed for an era of mateship-based regulation in financial planning, in which the big banks will get away with as much as they can until governments decide it’s politically unpalatable...................  With all the focus on the Commonwealth since the inquiry, the ostensible sector regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has gotten off lightly. Remember, this is a regulator so gobsmackingly inept that it not merely ignored repeated efforts by whistleblowers to alert it to what was going on at CFP, when the CBA itself alerted ASIC to the activities of one of its worst planners, ASIC simply lost the report.  And that was before it had its budget significantly cut, as it did in May. The result — $50 million so far in compensation for clients of the CBA, and...

Did you have story to tell about bank financial planner advice?  Any Bank?  Please email me and tell me your story This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/financial-services/macquarie-bank-in-asics-sights-after-damning-senate-report/story-fn91wd6x-1226968912932  CBA Toxic AdviceMacquarie Bank in ASIC’s sights after damning Senate report by:ANTHONY KLAN From:The Australian June 27, 2014 THE corporate regulator has launched an investigation into Macquarie Bank’s financial planning arm, requiring it to “dramatically improve the standards of financial advice” provided and to set up a restitution scheme for investors after some of its financial planners allegedly gave poor financial advice. The move by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission follows recommendations by a Senate inquiry highly critical of both ASIC and the Commonwealth Bank.  The committee recommended a wide-scale overhaul of the corporate regulator and recommended a royal commission into a scandal involving rogue planners in the CBA’s Commonwealth Financial Planning unit.  Facing the media, ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft said the regulator had already made a...

The bank which built a substantial business packaging sub-prime mortgages into securities and selling them to investors, paid $885m [2014] over charges that it had sold those sour mortgages "that fell short of agreed-upon standards", is now the first very large bank to be criminally convicted in decades! "Did not preserve evidence related to the wrongdoing. Did not take certain important steps, which later hindered the American investigation", the Justice Dept. said.  Senator Levin told Mr. Dougan, CEO of Credit Suisse, 'that the wrongdoing went beyond a small group of rogue bankers.'   After years of declining to charge big banks,  prosecutors are now seeking to criminally punish the banks without putting them out of business & wreaking havoc on the financial system. With a quiver in his voice, the bank's lawyer urged prosecutors to settle for a so-called deferred prosecution agreement. 'Please don’t do this! Please give us a D.P.A.' His entreaties fell flat. "This case shows that no financial institution,...

Dear members Today as our P.M.,Ministers and a huge trade delegation travel to Japan, China  and S. Korea trying to drum up business to stimulate the economy I read some disturbing news. Warren Buffet and senior economists in the U.S. are predicting a 50% or more crash on the stock market in 2014. Our  economy although better than most is already showing signs of over exposure. The property market, especially capital cities are busting at the seams. SMSF's have poured tens of billions of dollars into it and the Asian market can either use their own money or borrow at 2% interest to invest in it and as usual who stands to gain the most our Big Four Pillars. Genuine home buyers are now priced out and can't compete, the higher the property prices the more the banksters profit. On the Sky news business channel two commentators stated the government is...

Watchdog favoured big business, says former ASIC lawyer DateApril 2, 2014 - 1:09PM Read later Michael West A lawyer who worked for the Australian Securities & Investments Commission has told the Senate how he was under pressure to amend laws in favour of the giants of the financial services industry, laws which were against the interests of investors and consumers. In explosive evidence before the Senate Inquiry into the Performance of ASIC, the lawyer James Wheeldon described the corporate regulator as tainted by corruption. He left in disgust in 2005 after his advice on fee disclosure was abandoned and he was asked to work under the instruction of a lawyer on secondment from the National Australia Bank's wealth management operation, MLC. Mr Wheeldon said the MLC lawyer Grant Jones was lobbying within ASIC to grant a special exemption (or class order) which would benefit MLC and appease industry lobbyists from the...

Dear Peter, me again. ITS THE BANKS THE BANKS THE BANKS........................3% of brokers are rogues....we agreed on that one in 2003!!!  BUT you and I know 100% of LAFs have been inflated by Banker engineered service calculators that you never helped consumers get the copy of that page. Why? You even skipped over to Choice as CEO and never helped consumers with that bit of info whilst you were there.  Why is that Peter Kell?  Helping Bank mates perhaps? Why would you hide the calculator when Choice CEO and when Deputy Chair of ASIC?  Why?   Here is this gem from 2007 come back to haunt you and its good old Auntie ABC........................... Stephen, the Banks were approving all these loans. Banks cannot approve loans without checking and, then go on and blame the broker for the bank's approving the loan!!!!!  The Bankers Code deliberately forbids banks to lend unaffordable loans....

ASIC IS A FRAUD and there is no doubt in anyone's mind.  In the Inquiry there were seven ASIC LUMINARIES including its Chief Muddling Medcraft.  Its not all Greg's fault as the public PERCEPTION OF ASIC's lack of capabilities, lack of understanding of its own laws, lack of proper investigations into consumer complaints have been going on since 1998.  Same form letters saying "bugger off, get a lawyer."  Commissioner admits this is unacceptable, but they continue in the same pattern of doing nothing.  Nice easy bludge job is ASIC.  No results, and when on the stand in front of the senators Medcraft was eager to tell everyone the blame lies with Brokers and its a cultural problem and its up to the Industry to fix and not our problem.  This is the essence of reading his monologue in Hansard......Not once did he mention: LENDERS AT FAULT, BANKS TO BLAME, SERVICE CALCULATOR...

If ever you needed proof of why these NCCP is unworkable its this:  Consumers are left at the end of dangling wrangling ropes between the Brokers, Bankers and Dumb ASIC.  Medcraft is in charge of this dog's breakfast and NO CONSUMER PROTECTION has taken place before, since or during the NCCP discussion and inception meetings.  Now one knows what they are supposed to be doing.  Buyers contemplating asking for a mortgage or refiannce: DON'T, as the RISKS will leave you utterly unprotected.   Read why the Broker Industry says so..............................and we agree:   "NO ONE KNOWS THAT THEY ARE DOING."  SO ITS BACK TO BUYER BEWARE................................DANGER AHEAD.  Whatever you do as a consumers never ever sign a Low Doc Mortgage High Risk, High Cost Loan...............................ITS A KILLER LOAN. Government given the hurry-up by MFAA by Calida Smylie | 20 Mar 2014   While the Treasury recently announced the government does not intend to proceed...

More from our Gladys: SUMMER SCHOOL ASIC 2009 Our program this year is very much focused  on the financial markets and this morning, we will focus on what went wrong and what we’ve learned...........the principals—taxpayers, shareholders, bond holders and so on—are being very badly let down by their agents— the regulators, supervisors, central banks in some cases (not here in Australia I hasten to add), treasuries, CEOs, Boards and so on............ there were many, many things going on over many, many years that basically led toincreased debt versus equity throughout the system........going back to the 1986 tax reform in the US, we also had the concession that allowed things like mortgage-backed conduits to become possible—where the entity wasn’t taxed and could operate like a ‘pass through’ certificate—which greatly encouraged the use of those conduits to make mortgages. They didn’t give that concession to equities and other assets, they gave it to...

ANZ & Westpac have been undertaking  their own in house LMI since well before 2007 What you need to do is bury a level deeper than this. Look instead at the capital requirements for Lenders Mortgage Insurance providers (AGN 112 I think). Look at how APRA watered down the capital requirements on LMI providers post their consultation papers, with only 1 real LMI provider in the market.  Look at how much capital APRA makes LMI providers set aside for the riskiest of risky mortgages it insures for the banks.  Remember these are the mortgages that people take insurance out against because they don’t have the cash for a decent deposit.  Then the banks take this risky mortgage insurance and use it as a credit mitigant to offset the cost of their capital.  Talk about insurance leverage, on bank leverage, on an asset bubble ( housing ), geared to a leveraged commodity...

Another Reader - from Ali Absolutely spot on Robert. You hit the nail right on. The need to come away from selfishness and greed is a must in order to amend the financial, physical, and mental damage and return to better times. I just hope it won't be too long before some media outlet picks up and leads the way to exposing the truth around this shocking injustice brought upon the innocent and unsuspecting public. We the victims should have our fraudulent loans extinguished right away. We should not have to wait until someone in Government is willing to sort out the mess. This could take years and we just want to get on with our lives. It is so unfair to keep us imprisoned in this way as if we were the guilty ones. Bring on our deserved freedom.... ED:  One wonders why Bankers responsible for the dreaded SERVICE CALCULATOR are not IN...