BFCSA Blog

Gillard will retire to an $8 million equivalent super despite trying to tax yours, plus now she and Wayne Swan will be sweeping your personal bank accounts if you haven’t used it in the last 3 years. The recently amended legislation that transfers money from bank accounts that have been inactive for three years into the hands of ASIC raises questions about the suspicious timing of passing this law and the government’s motive behind it. According to a legislation amended late last year, money from bank accounts inactive for three years will be seized by ASIC. Previously bank accounts could safely stay inactive for seven years; however, the recent amendment implies that more money will flow to the federal government. As a result bank deposits like bonds, trusts and savings worth millions can be lost. The government rushed to change this law late last a year at a time when they...

National Anti-Corruption Plan  Corruption is a serious global problem, which has devastating impacts for individuals, families, communities and regions. It discourages investment and distorts markets, leading to depletion of resources for important community services like schools, hospitals and roads. In combating corruption, the Australian Government takes a leadership role at the international, regional and domestic levels. At the international level, Australia is a party to both the UN Convention against Corruption and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Australia is a key member of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group having participated in the negotiation and development of the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan. In cooperation with China and Indonesia, Australia is currently leading a review of G20 priorities to strengthen international cooperation against corruption, and is also working on the development of the G20 Guide to Mutual Legal Assistance. Furthermore, Australia is an active member of the APEC Anti-Corruption Working Group and the...

    By Barry Ritholtz, Published: June 24 Ever since the robo-signing scandal erupted in October 2010, large U.S. banks have slowly come to realize that their practices are under ever-increasing scrutiny. A “Duh!” observation for most people, but not, apparently, for bankers. Belatedly, the bankers took a closer look at their internal procedures for handling defaulted mortgages. It did not take long for them to discover that something significant was amiss. By mid-2011, most of the major money center banks had put the brakes on their normal foreclosure machinery: “What was all this sturm und drang over some bums who don’t pay their bills? Perhaps we better look into it.” (The Washington Post/Source: RealtyTrac)   Their internal review of how mortgages in default were handled revealed a surprising amount of chicanery. Indeed, most of what was going on had elements of something wrong. The banks might have been better served had they asked...

There is an election next year. This is where we have an opportunity to make our voice known. During this time ALL Fedearl policitans s start to doing campaigning and going on how they are very good and are their to protect the interests of the people of Australia etc and that they do this and that.. They need votes to stay in power.. Let's put them to the test.. Very soon - when I have a little abit more time I am going to ask people to write or send me a short video about their Maladminsitration and experience with the banks. I am then going to collate them and then send it to EVERY politician and ask for a response. I am then going to publicly name the ones who fog us off and then as a group it will be our duty to follow them and when they are searching for positive publicity make...

  AAP August 25, 2012 1:22PM THE chair of a parliamentary committee says the bribery scandals at the Reserve Bank's two banknote-making companies could prompt the government to establish an anti-corruption body for federal agencies. Allegations were raised again in the past week about the bank's wholly owned subsidiaries Note Printing Australia and the part-owned Securency, where staff bribed foreign officials to gain contracts. Labor MP Melissa Parke, chairwoman of the joint Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity committee, said the government should canvass the option of creating a national anti-corruption body for commonwealth agencies. "The recent revelations concerning the RBA have laid bare the gaping hole in the oversight of the commonwealth public sector," Ms Parke told ABC radio on Saturday. RBA governor Glenn Stevens told a parliamentary economics committee on Friday that there had been "no cover-up". In a prepared statement, Mr Stevens defended the central bank's dealings on the issue,...

By Larry Schlesinger  Monday, 20 August 2012 http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/mortgages/banks-negligent-and-reckless-with-low-doc-loans-denise-brailey-in-senate-testimony   Most of the low-doc loans banks provided to borrowers would have been rejected if they had made a "simple phone call to the borrowers”, banking consumer advocate Denise Brailey has testified before a Senate inquiry into behaviour of the banking sector post-GFC. But she says banks chose “in a corporate decision” not to make this phone call to ascertain the true financial circumstances of the borrower. Brailey, who runs the Banking and Consumers Finance Support Association (BCFSA), brought with her to the inquiry a “small bundle” of 4,000 “falsified loan applications", which she said includes applications to every bank in Australia. “The four majors are in there. “They are all responsible, through a series of emails from banks to brokers, instructing the brokers how to get their deals across the line — 'make the deal fit' was their usual interpretation." Brailey’s views...

By Philip Soos  Tuesday, 21 August 2012 The level of sub-prime mortgages in Australia may be far in advance of what was previously assumed and provided for by banks. The story was broken on the ABC, and covered elsewhere. The revelations centred around two personalities: Kate Thompson and Denise Brailey. Kate Thompson was a licensed mortgage broker at Mortgage Miracles in Western Australia. A highly regarded and award-winning broker, Thompson disbursed a veritable torrent of credit from bank and non-banking lenders to clients wanting funds to buy property, making around $5 million a year from upfront and trailing commissions. She is now facing fraud charges for what amounts to predatory lending: providing credit to people with little to no expectation they will be able to repay the entirety of the loan. This fraud was achieved by fudging the income and assets of clients, making them appear much wealthier on paper than was...

  by: Andrew Burrell From: The Australian August 18, 2012 12:00AM   A GROUP of 20 banks, including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac, has been ordered to pay up to $3 billion after failing to overturn a landmark court ruling that they seized assets from Alan Bond's collapsing Bell Group in 1990. The West Australian Court of Appeal yesterday upheld a 2008 ruling that the banking syndicate must repay Bell Group creditors, in the latest chapter of Australia's most expensive and longest-running litigation. The appeal backfired on the financiers when two of the three Court of Appeal judges found the trial judge, Neville Owen, had under-calculated the amount the banks should hand over, finding he had used a "deflated multiplier" in assessing compound interest. Acting judges Malcolm Lee, Christopher Carr and Douglas Drummond, who all came out of retirement to hear the appeal, handed down their ruling after a...

  Still waiting to recover fire in the belly by: Peter Switzer From: The Australian August 18, 2012 12:00AM   Westpac chief economist Bill Evans says talk of interest rates rising may be spooking consumers. Source: Herald Sun   JUST when we thought we had an improving economy, consumers have failed to give the work of the Reserve Bank and the Gillard government the thumbs up. Ironically, the news of a 2.5 per cent fall in the Westpac consumer confidence index to a disappointing 96.6 in August coincides with a rise in the NAB business confidence index to 3.9 in July, from -2.9 in June. It is the first rise in business confidence in three months. The great entrepreneur and business builder Gerry Harvey is bewildered about how tough conditions are right now. The NAB business conditions index fell to -3.5 in July from -1.1 a month earlier, which would seem...

What is it with ASIC and women brokers? ASIC in their hurry to be seen to be doing "something" for the money have shot the wrong horse again and sent the message to banks that they'll keep punishing the brokers and letting the banks off the hook. This is not what the people (ASICs bosses) asked for! I hope the scapegoat brokers appeal against their public vilification by an out of touch and out of date system and tell all to the media and BFCSA, like Kate did. I guess the BANKS and ASIC "lost" Kate as a victim, so they had to find another one to hang out to dry. Does anyone know the brokers who were busted for the BANKS crimes? ASIC are money harvesting cowards. They lack the fundamentals to take on the banks beyond a token effort. I've seen it over and over - ASIC pick...

Documents obtained under FOI Act blocked by Government, ASIC, Treasury, Macquarie Group deals. If you were wondering about there being different rules for banks and us, listen to this interview and read on  the full report. It sounds a lot like ASIC changed investment rules to protect Macquarie Group. Backroom deals? 2:18PM Thursday Aug 09, 2012 MacBank's 'intense lobbying campaign' Macquarie Group was behind an intense lobbying campaign for survival during the GFC. Ian Verrender reports. Recording of interview:http://www.businessday.com.au/business/revealed-macbanks-code-red-to-the-government-20100516-v6cp.html AS THE tsunami engulfing global markets in September 2008 crashed into Lehman Bros, a besieged Macquarie Group wasted little time swinging into action. Under attack from short-selling hedge funds and with its share price plunging by half, Macquarie launched a concerted lobbying effort with the government and regulators. Documents obtained by BusinessDay under freedom-of-information laws reveal the haste and well-targeted strategy Macquarie employed as the maelstrom of the global financial crisis rocked...

If the regulators don't know the Law and don't enforce it anyway If the banks possibly know the Law but don't respect it If the lawyers know the law but bend it to their advantage If the government break the Law they made and fail to amend their wrong decisions If the media are cobbled by their fear of the criminals What we have is anarchy And a lawless bunch of thieves hiding in their glass and steel towers empty the pockets of good hardworking citizens on a daily basis This is the basis for a revolution in other countries. In Australia the best we have is a Royal Commission. Put the documented truth on the table now for all to see. Suspend the licenses and take the passports of all the suspects.  Bring all the culprits to the judgement of the Law and the people. NOW  ...