27 Apr 2022
Super cycling to a sustainable future
Andrew Cornell |
The worlds next super-cycle is inevitable. And it will require an innovation and funding super-cycle as fuel.
About Andrew Cornell
The managing editor of bluenotes, Andrew is an award winning journalist with more than three decades in the game. He was at the Australian Financial Review for 20 years where he was an associate editor, senior writer and columnist – his widely read financial services column continues on bluenotes.
Andrew is a former north Asia correspondent for the AFR and in the wake of the financial crisis was awarded a European Union grant to study the global response and new regulation. He has also been a restaurant reviewer and tries to play table tennis.
articles by Andrew Cornell
05 Apr 2022
When worlds collide: DeFi meets TradFi
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Decentralised finance has become big enough for central banks to take notice. Will subsequent rules and regulations help DeFi grow or will the bubble burst?
23 Mar 2022
Carnegie: ANZ Plus to rebuild and rewire Australia Retail
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s new retail banking proposition ANZ Plus is the beginning of a multi-year plan to deliver improved service to customers.
23 Mar 2022
Dalton: digital first a plus for financial wellbeing
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s new retail banking platform ANZ Plus will provide both new and existing customers with future-ready services to improve their financial wellbeing.
01 Mar 2022
Carnegie: an exciting time for Australia Retail banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Newly announced ANZ Group Executive Australia Retail Maile Carnegie says the time is right to bring two major portfolios back together.
01 Mar 2022
Elliott: laying the foundations for ANZ’s future
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says organisational change will create greater opportunity for both Retail and Commercial banking with a strategic focus on financial wellbeing.
23 Feb 2022
Revolutionising the industry – from inside and out
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Incumbent banks are not standing still in the face of the ongoing challenge from increasingly well funded fintechs. Instead they are assimilating the tech, innovations and entrepreneurial spirit of challengers.
09 Feb 2022
The investment case for net zero carbon
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Trillions of dollars will be needed to even rein in carbon emissions – and that’s more an opportunity than a cost.
27 Jan 2022
Cryptocurrency: don't look up
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The orbit of cryptocurrencies is increasingly eccentric yet central banks want to enter the system.
12 Jan 2022
The best of 2021 from bluenotes and ANZ News
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Well, 2021 was different to 2020… Different variants, different challenges, different attitudes. But also different stories of resilience, of innovation, of breakthroughs, of optimism.
16 Dec 2021
O’Sullivan: getting on with the emerging opportunity
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ Chairman Paul O’Sullivan outlines key focuses and challenges for the bank and its board in 2022 and beyond.
08 Dec 2021
2022 looms as watershed for financial sector
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Even ignoring the pandemic, 2022 will be a turning point for banks with a focus on digitalisation and sustainability non-negotiable.
24 Nov 2021
Shareholders are stakeholders too
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It’s not capitalism that is driving global warming and growing inequality, it’s the humans making the rules behind it. And they can change them.
10 Nov 2021
Fear and loathing in financial services
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Currency, payments and centralised finance are entering a very weird period of change globally.
28 Oct 2021
Faruqui: continuing to build on demonstrated strengths
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s new CFO says the bank has the right capital balance and risk settings to lean into the reopening of the global economy in 2022.
28 Oct 2021
Elliott: investing for the long-term in tech, customer experience, sustainability
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says the bank had a strong performance despite some ongoing uncertainty and is now preparing to take advantage of future opportunities.
13 Oct 2021
Big Tech bank invasion halted at the moat
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The much heralded invasion of banking by giant technology companies hasn’t panned out exactly as first thought.
29 Sep 2021
DeFi-ing traditional finance
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The global financial system is facing the next phase of the digital revolution – decentralised finance.
15 Sep 2021
Taming capitalism’s nature
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Companies which find the right mix of financial growth and social good will ultimately succeed in the long-term.
01 Sep 2021
Future of payments: review or preview?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australia’s payments system is large, diverse and very complex. And globally interlinked. So has regulation kept up with the pace of innovation?
31 Aug 2021
Hand: light at the end of the tunnel
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Customer confidence is up and so are house prices, creating a strong environment for home lending growth according to ANZ’s Mark Hand.
18 Aug 2021
The next 500-year plan for banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banking may have looked somewhat similar 500 years ago. But it will almost certainly look entirely different in another five years.
11 Aug 2021
Elliott: Faruqui has best attributes for ANZ CFO
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Newly appointed CFO Farhan Faruqui will bring a depth of knowledge and understanding to role, says ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott.
04 Aug 2021
What time is cheque out?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
With the Kiwis officially killing off cheques, will Australia be the next economy to formally move on from the paper-based payment?
21 Jul 2021
Under the hood: bank to the future with 1835i
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
After three foundation years within the enterprise, ANZ’s investment and innovation business is “leaving the mothership” to further accelerate scale and growth.
23 Jun 2021
Fintechs bubble away
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Stock valuations are up and interest rates are down. So is the fintech market going to stay this frothy forever? Or is it frothy at all?
21 Jun 2021
David Hains: history, business, relationships and mistakes
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Although no longer at the reins, renowned businessman David Hains still knows a thing or two about investment – after four decades in business.
09 Jun 2021
A matter of trust
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As global economies turn to digital solutions, organisations and industries must focus on building and maintaining trust to win big.
26 May 2021
Can central banks be even more cryptic?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As the value of cryptocurrencies continue to spike and reverse, central banks have started mulling its usefulness.
05 May 2021
Elliott: growth opportunities emerging but caution persists
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says the bank delivered a very strong result after a challenging year but not all geographies are at the same stage of recovery.
30 Apr 2021
Treating an organisational crisis
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The pandemic has created an opportunity for businesses to partner with medical professionals to create a health-conscious workplace.
21 Apr 2021
Banking platforms off the deep end
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Not all banking platforms are created equal. And banks may not even be the right company to offer the service.
07 Apr 2021
From banking system to ecosystem
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
All companies – including banks – must move away from selling particular products and think about the total consumer experience.
24 Mar 2021
When the barista is giving you crypto tips…
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The crypto bonanza continues. Tweets are now non-fungible works of art. But one piece of the digital landscape is more than hype: blockchain.
12 Mar 2021
Elliott: supporting our SME customers
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says further government support for small- to medium-sized businesses will provide a critical boost to the economy.
11 Mar 2021
Some things don’t change. But much does…
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Traditional banks have existed for thousands of years with one constant – change.
24 Feb 2021
Regulators rule on climate risk
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
With the US government back on board with addressing climate change risks, businesses and regulators are getting on with the job.
18 Feb 2021
Elliott: learning to flex in a changing world
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says the strength of the bank’s position came to the fore amid ongoing global and economic uncertainty.
10 Feb 2021
Behind the ranks of the fintech revolution
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The past year has seen upheaval in the financial services industry. But – so far - it hasn’t been the traditional banks bearing the brunt.
27 Jan 2021
2021: banking on a better future
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
After a tumultuous year, one certainty is digital transformation will accelerate.
16 Dec 2020
ANZ Board Minutes: flying 20 minutes ahead of the plane
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
New ANZ Chairman Paul O’Sullivan says boards must take a long-term view when making crucial business decisions and keep the community in mind.
09 Dec 2020
The year that was
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In a year like no other, ANZ’s content team continued to deliver insights, analysis and a look into the human experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.
02 Dec 2020
PODCAST: Silicon Valley’s founding father
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Long-time venture capitalist Sanford Robertson has decades of experience in Silicon Valley. And he has no plans to slow down.
25 Nov 2020
Regulators, central banks, investors stand firm on climate goals
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Even if the COVID-19 crisis abates across the globe, a climate storm is gathering for the financial services industry.
11 Nov 2020
How capitalism can heal itself
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In the aftermath of the US election, it’s time for major economies to think about how they approach – and measure – growth in a capitalist society.
29 Oct 2020
Managing customers and risk through acute change
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ risk management robust, anticipates ongoing uncertainty while customer support drives recovery.
29 Oct 2020
Jablko: maintaining a strong position through uncertainty
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Efficient management of capital, risk and costs allowed the bank to maintain a strong balance sheet through the crisis, says ANZ CFO.
29 Oct 2020
Elliott: focusing on the future
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO says the bank has been well protected through COVID-19 and is now looking to future investment opportunities.
21 Oct 2020
Credit contagion in a time of COVID-19
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Are measures designed to support business through the crisis sandbagging the credit cycle?
29 Sep 2020
Central Banks get cryptic
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As global interest rates crater and COVID-19 recessions metastasise, central banks are being forced to re-evaluate their role in currency and money creation.
16 Sep 2020
I worked with a zombie
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, some corporate businesses were barely alive but not quite dead.
28 Aug 2020
PODCAST: Gonski reflects on time as Chair
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Outgoing ANZ Chairman David Gonski opens up about his time on the bank’s board and the challenges of the times in this discussion with bluenotes.
19 Aug 2020
Elliott: bank is prepared, learning, adapting
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says the bank is focusing on its purpose to guide customers, community and shareholders through this stressful period.
18 Aug 2020
Vale Will Bailey AO
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Look back at the career of former ANZ CEO Will Bailey, who helped usher the bank into a new era of technology and more.
05 Aug 2020
What if banks disappeared and nobody noticed?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks have been deemed essential in the pandemic. But are they really the only institution able to provide banking services?
22 Jul 2020
Addressing crises - acute and chronic
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The link between the two most worrying crises of our times – COVID-19 and climate change – must be examined to successfully combat both.
13 Jul 2020
Lending a hand beyond September
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s head of Australian banking outlines continuing support to customers through Christmas and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
08 Jul 2020
Planet cools for digital dinosaurs
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Digital banking is no longer a strategy for the near term, it’s a strategy for the now term
24 Jun 2020
Sometimes - history needs a push
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
COVID-19 has inflicted revolutionary change at a pace and scale to rival the political upheavals of the 20th century.
09 Jun 2020
ANZ Board Minutes: balancing health, economic responses
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Jane Halton reflects on her involvement in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and her understanding of the economic consequences.
04 Jun 2020
LONGREAD: understanding repayment deferrals
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s Aus banking head details how the bank is helping customers now while preparing them for once the pandemic has passed.
27 May 2020
Valuing human life adds value to the economy
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As the re-opening of some societies begins, balancing the value of human life vs cost to the economy has come to a head.
13 May 2020
Post COVID-19: recovery but not as we know it
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Many lessons will be born out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Which will endure in the long-term?
30 Apr 2020
Corbally: managing risk in a pandemic
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
More forward-looking accounting standards impacted half-year credit loss provision charge, says ANZ Chief Risk Officer.
30 Apr 2020
Jablko: bank still unquestionably strong in crisis
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Strong capital and liquidity will help customers and shareholders through the crisis, says ANZ CFO.
30 Apr 2020
Elliott: dealing with uncertainty from a position of strength
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO says bank’s work coming into the crisis and past experience holds it in good stead to help customers and economy through the pandemic.
22 Apr 2020
Dirty money goes digital
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
People are turning to contactless payments to avoid touching cash or payments terminals. This trend might exist in a post-COVID-19 world.
19 Apr 2020
Gonski: keeping an open mind in crisis
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ Chairman says the board is balancing the needs of all stakeholders – including shareholders – in responding to COVID-19.
08 Apr 2020
The world has changed, business fundamentals haven’t
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Business growth expert Dr Jana Matthews talks through what is needed for SMEs to survive COVID-19 and thrive on the other side.
30 Mar 2020
Q&A: Elliott on balancing the intensive care with recovery
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO talks through the challenges facing the economy while balancing an acute response to the COVID-19 crisis with longer term rebuilding.
17 Mar 2020
Elliott: ANZ prepared for crisis, essential banking a priority
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says bank is in good shape to support customers and staff through the pandemic with long term shareholder interests in mind.
04 Mar 2020
A viral tsunami
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As the world reacts to - and prepares against - a global pandemic, what do we know of the lifecycles of previous disasters?
19 Feb 2020
Diversity delivers dividends
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) has moved beyond nice to have to shareholder priority.
05 Feb 2020
Banks and payments: take your pick
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Incumbent banks and new players keep coming up with even more ways to pay – but is it musical chairs or deckchairs on the Titanic?
03 Feb 2020
George: Wealth simplification to help customers
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ Deputy CEO says the bank will work with partner companies to offer high quality wealth solutions to customers.
22 Jan 2020
The roads go without saying…
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
What has capitalism done for us? A lot more than socialism…
11 Dec 2019
Gradually then suddenly - the future of banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Will 2019 be the year we all look back at and see a tipping point for upheaval in financial services?
02 Dec 2019
ANZ Board Minutes: banks on the production line
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Graeme Liebelt believes the financial services have a lot to learn from manufacturing. And it’s time to get back to basics.
27 Nov 2019
Fintech threat: not just where you think
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The fintech revolution is entering the negotiated truce phase - but bigtech looms on a new front.
13 Nov 2019
2019 bank profits: challenging, backwards, turbulent
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The major Australian banks have reported their full-year results. The outcomes were grim, the future a challenge.
01 Nov 2019
ANZ Board Minutes: creating a nuanced focus
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Paula Dwyer discusses challenges in a post-Royal Commission environment and the need for more women in corporate Australia.
31 Oct 2019
Jablko: challenges underscore strategy
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Regulatory and compliance investments will make the bank better for customers, says ANZ CFO.
31 Oct 2019
Elliott: solid performance in challenging conditions
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO says strong performances in Institutional banking and New Zealand offset a weaker result in Australia.
16 Oct 2019
The umpires decide on climate change
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Whatever the position on climate science, change is coming and customers and regulators are calling for it.
11 Oct 2019
ANZ Board Minutes: is the golden era of banking over?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Ilana Atlas says this era of financial services – and corporate life – demands pace and flexibility.
02 Oct 2019
Fintechs folding in
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Bank of the Future would do well to look into the past as well as the fintech forecast.
18 Sep 2019
Zero rates: paranormal activity 2
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As interest rates continue to drop, global economies must prepare for a new era of monetary policy and business risk.
10 Sep 2019
ANZ Board Minutes: from the farm to the bank
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
John Macfarlane has run banks, farms, shopping centres – what’s the link?
04 Sep 2019
Interest factor zero
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The idea unprecedented negative interest rates will spur the economy isn’t coming to fruition, so what are they doing?
29 Aug 2019
Lowering the intensity on carbon
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ is cutting its own carbon emissions but more significantly is supporting customers to lower emissions more broadly.
21 Aug 2019
Are banks too profitable? Or not profitable enough?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Although bank profits might not be a crowd favourite, they’re necessary - and good - for the economy. So say the regulators.
16 Aug 2019
ANZ mortgage focus showing promise: Hand
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Better clarity and faster processing of mortgage approvals improving outcomes, risk settings maintained, Australia head says.
07 Aug 2019
The global financial crisis: still going strong
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Competition and innovation need to be weighted carefully in the aftermath, and forefront, of a crisis.
24 Jul 2019
Robocops on the cyber beat
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As companies’ defence against cybercrime become more sophisticated, so too does the perpetrators of the crime.
10 Jul 2019
Nothing to see here. Hang on, maybe there is…
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Central banks have been in watch-and-wait mode on cryptocurrencies for a while but now they are beginning to move.
26 Jun 2019
Reading Libra’s horoscope
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Facebook has launched its own currency - Libra - we foretell doubters and challenging times ahead.
29 May 2019
Bitcoin’s back in town
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Although bitcoin is on a bull run back into the mainstream, questions of legitimacy still remain.
15 May 2019
Robots don’t like ESG
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Environmental, social and governance reporting may extend beyond the normal reporting criteria but it is highly important.
01 May 2019
Jablko: benefits of staying disciplined
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Driving a better outcome for shareholders is key to capital allocation, says ANZ’s CFO.
01 May 2019
Elliott: optimistic in tough conditions
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO says ANZ is managing well through transformation and a tricky environment.
30 Apr 2019
Bank to the future
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As more and more competitors enter the arena, will traditional banks step up or do they – wrongly – fear competition?
17 Apr 2019
Five years of bluenotes; that’s not all we’ve got…
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Since launching five years ago, bluenotes – and our audience – has changed. We’re still striving to adapt and deliver engaging content.
02 Apr 2019
Who’s holding the digital purse strings?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Tech companies are developing their own credit cards, payments platforms and wallets to store them in – but what do consumers want?
20 Mar 2019
Why the world wants more regulation. And what it means
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There are a multitude of reasons why momentum is shifting towards more rules and regulations.
27 Feb 2019
Non-banks: looking like banks, acting like banks, regulated like banks
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As challenger banks promise to be better than the banks, can they avoid becoming banks themselves?
21 Feb 2019
Elliott: tighter conditions ahead for mortgage markets
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott discusses the outlook for credit quality and customer commitments post-Royal Commission.
13 Feb 2019
So much to buy, many ways to pay
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Paying for goods and services has never been so complicated with hundreds of payments options.
30 Jan 2019
Purpose or profit? Or purpose and profit?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Successful organisations must do more than just make money – and they need to do it if they want to keep making money.
16 Jan 2019
Goat entrails and banks
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
What’s to come in 2019 for the banking and financial services sector?
12 Dec 2018
ANZ Board Minutes: banks, trust & the governance challenge
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In the first of our new series, ANZ chairman David Gonski speaks on video about the future challenges for financial services.
28 Nov 2018
Q&A: the way forward for the US & China
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ESM Goh Chok Tong chats about Trump, the kind of China the world wants to see and Singapore’s next PM.
31 Oct 2018
ANZ strategy paying off: Jablko
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Simplification drives improved capital flexibility, credit quality and continued lower costs in full year, CFO says.
31 Oct 2018
ANZ fit for tough new world of banking: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO says bank is in the right shape for growth in an environment of change after small dip in cash profit.
24 Oct 2018
Doing right and making money when investing
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Ethical businesses can create a premium return-on-investment, say two expert stock pickers.
17 Oct 2018
Women without borders
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
For innovation we need more women, more internationalists and more internationalist women.
03 Oct 2018
The competitive advantage of climate risk awareness
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Investments susceptible to climate risk will struggle as the world shifts to a lower-carbon reality.
26 Sep 2018
Certainty, climate, investors & risk
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Investor forecasts on climate change are more certain than the weather.
19 Sep 2018
It could have been worse
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The global economy survived a crisis, Australia dodged a recession, Wall St bankers were bailed out. Not everyone was happy with the response but what else should have been done?
13 Sep 2018
AI: are humans obsolete?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
AI is already shifting human life. Where are we going now? Five experts give their view.
12 Sep 2018
Lessons learned (& forgotten) from the crisis
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Australian financial system endured the GFC as well as any in the world. What happened?
05 Sep 2018
Is it too quiet in emerging Asia?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The search is on for the appropriate trade-off between growth and stability in Asia.
31 Aug 2018
ESG performance as important as financial performance: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Bank seeks to balance the social and economic impacts of its decisions.
29 Aug 2018
Banks v fintechs: better the devil you know
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Disruption is on the horizon and banks can’t avoid it but that doesn’t mean they’re doomed.
15 Aug 2018
You’re too young for the golden age (of banks)
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banking is essential; banks are not. What will the bank of the future even be?
09 Aug 2018
Hand: we’ve got to support our farmers
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s Mark Hand discusses newly announced relief measures for Australian farmers.
08 Aug 2018
Fintech: live, die, repeat
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The fintech revolution will be televised - by the major networks. Ideas with a true value will either partner with, or be enveloped by, the establishment. But not necessarily banks…
01 Aug 2018
Are platforms the new bank branches?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Digital has brought a seismic shift in the economics of financial services. An expert describes on podcast what lies ahead.
25 Jul 2018
The digital banking paradox
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Surely banks which want to be truly digital really can’t be banks at all?
18 Jul 2018
Fintech’s double-edged sword
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Fintech is trying to reach the summit but will face the same issues as the incumbents once (or even if) it gets there.
12 Jul 2018
bluenotes debate: the renewable future
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
We chat to a panel of experts about the future slate for renewable energy in Australia.
11 Jul 2018
For banks, how big is too big to fail?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In some markets there is a sound economic argument for dominant institutions.
04 Jul 2018
How to strike oil in data exploration
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
A data-enriched experience is something many fintechs see as an advantage in the fight against banks.
27 Jun 2018
Crypto’s Icarus movement
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The BIS has delivered its result on crypto – as if the market was still waiting for advice - and it sounds like coinmania flew too close to the sun.
20 Jun 2018
Q&A: on robots, why can’t we just be friends?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
We chat to an expert panel about AI, the future of work and why we might not have to fight the robots after all.
14 Jun 2018
Data, social networks & the electronic edifice effect
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Who do you trust with your personal data if you can’t trust Facebook?
04 Jun 2018
Australian banks can lead world on sustainability
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BoM’s Dr Karl Braganza says Australian financial services currently lag Europe in understanding, application of sustainability.
30 May 2018
Diversity, boards & the specious theories of threatened species
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Two theories against board diversity arose in the wake of recent corporate scandals. Both are wrong.
23 May 2018
Japan: a rising or waning sun?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Growth in Japan has dried up. Is this the end of Abenomics?
18 May 2018
Privacy, personalisation and the right to be forgotten
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Society is on high alert when it comes to personal data use, so how can organisations better play by the rules?
16 May 2018
Bank results: what lurks beneath?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Results were solid – but stepping back from the headlines, the outlook for the sector is tough.
09 May 2018
ANZ names Alexis George deputy CEO
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Bank’s head of wealth to take “really valuable” role in addition to current responsibilities. Mark Hand joins executive committee.
07 May 2018
Stronger planning rules to help customers: George
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ unveils suit of initiatives aimed at improving customer trust in financial advice.
01 May 2018
ANZ putting resources where it counts most: Jablko
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CFO says bank’s commitment to simplification has helped lower costs, drive profit.
01 May 2018
Operational efficiency pushes HY profit: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO cites continued simplification, rising share of home loans as drivers of growth.
25 Apr 2018
Yeo on Singapore, ASEAN and the rise of China
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Eminent Singaporean George Yeo shares his insights and comparatively dovish view on China’s rise.
25 Apr 2018
ON THE COUCH: China, the second sun in the firmament
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
George Yeo sits down with bluenotes to Chat about the geopolitical disruption of China.
18 Apr 2018
The curious case of funding costs
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Recent stability in funding costs for banks has been jolted - and no one’s completely sure why.
11 Apr 2018
PODCAST: opening up on open data
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Open banking is coming. What are the implications – not just for banks but everyone? Two experts debate the outlook.
11 Apr 2018
People’s banks historically not good for people
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There are dangers in governments entering the private sector on the promise of a better deal.
05 Apr 2018
A warmer year for fossil fuel funding but finance climate still cooling
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Global banks increased lending for “extreme” fossil fuels last year but will such finances be increasingly climate constrained?
28 Mar 2018
Keep KISSing in banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks are caught in a new kind of race - who can become more efficient, more quickly?
21 Mar 2018
Q&A: untethered – Visa and the future of payments
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
We sit down with Chris Boncimino, Visa’s head of innovation, to chat about cryptocurrncies, QR codes, plastic cards, cash and all the other ways to pay.
23 Feb 2018
Go with your gut: chef McConnell
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Restaurateur says there’s not always a guide book for operating a business.
21 Feb 2018
Go equal, get bigger
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There is an indisputable body of evidence demonstrating organisations which strive for equality perform better than those who don’t.
14 Feb 2018
Competition and/or stability in banking?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The challenge for policymakers is to ensure disruption benefits the economy and doesn’t break it.
07 Feb 2018
When sharper credit's too sharp
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Well-intentioned but comprehensive credit reporting comes with risks for everyone. How do we handle it with care?
31 Jan 2018
Digital and the power of mockery
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Is the ideal model for financial services in the future a bionic bank?
17 Jan 2018
Bitcoin: hype or hip?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The level of interest in bitcoin is equalled perhaps only by the dollars pouring into it – and anything remotely associated.
10 Jan 2018
Fintechs no longer revolting
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Once upon a time, fintech meant revolution – but it’s now part of the financial mainstream.
12 Dec 2017
Elliott: wealth simplification complete
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Speaking on video, ANZ CEO says more-focussed bank helps its customers and shareholders.
06 Dec 2017
Is fintech Japan’s next Sony?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Japan may not be the highest-profile fintech market in the world but it is a particularly interesting one.
22 Nov 2017
The Japan, Australia business relationship: 1+1=3
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The opportunity for corporate Australia and Japan to cooperate in third countries is large.
15 Nov 2017
Data vs the war stories in China
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There’s always talk of failures in China, but the data suggest its appetite for foreign business will only grow – and quickly.
08 Nov 2017
The KISS principle in banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The underlying current of simplification in banking is easy to overlook and underestimate.
01 Nov 2017
Diversity makes money
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Big investors back diversity and sustainability – and they’re right to, results suggest.
26 Oct 2017
ANZ reshaping paying off: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO says better-focussed bank has delivered higher returns while reducing costs and growing capital after announcing full-year profit growth.
26 Oct 2017
Jablko: ANZ capital put to best use
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CFO says bank has capital flexibility, is focussed on better returns for risk and continues to reshape its business.
25 Oct 2017
The consumer inertia in banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
If the financial services market is so competitive, why don’t consumers move around?
17 Oct 2017
ANZ still committed to wealth customers: George
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ sells OnePath to IOOF in deal which will separate super and insurance arms.
10 Oct 2017
Blockchain reaction
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Cryptocurrencies are copping flak but nobody is calling foul on blockchain – and the reasons are numerous.
04 Oct 2017
Regulators vow to be more cultured
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Culture’s hard to create – and maintain – but shouldn’t be written off as unmanagable.
03 Oct 2017
REALas, start-ups and learning to talk corporate
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ has acquired property pricing startup REALas – we speak to the founder on podcast and video.
27 Sep 2017
It’s time to automate the ATM
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Does the ATM – once considered the ultimate banking innovation – even have a future?
19 Sep 2017
Banking on climate change
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There is another front - beyond politics and risk - for would-be financiers in the energy debate.
19 Sep 2017
Oh what a feeling, agile working
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s Colin Neave recalls his time at Toyota where a shift to a new way of work saw the company top the marketplace.
05 Sep 2017
Tech-tock, the tech clock is ticking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
For financial services, those who own the customer will have the highest margins.
05 Sep 2017
Carnegie on data, analytics & Sputnik
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Companies need to realise the scope of the change presented by analytics quickly – and for some it’s already too late.
29 Aug 2017
VIDEO: squads, tribes & new ways to work
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s Kath Bray explains on video how ANZ’s new agile method of working will actually work.
24 Aug 2017
PODCAST: inside the mind of truly great leaders
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The role of modern leadership is creating an environment of trust and empowerment, Dr Alicia Fortinberry says.
23 Aug 2017
Does size matter when it comes to culture?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks face challenges in communication and culture – and earnings - which come simply from being too big and complex.
22 Aug 2017
Data and the key to success
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
How businesses actually use their data – rather than accrue it – will determine their success in the modern marketplace.
22 Aug 2017
Elliott: why I’m on Facebook
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO explains rationale behind new way to interact with customers.
16 Aug 2017
Why should banks be digital?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks need to be digital, on that all agree. But what does that actually mean? Robots, AI, branches in phones?
15 Aug 2017
Strong progress for ANZ in Q3: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO pleased with cost performance; operational changes; growth in loan book; lower RWAs.
14 Aug 2017
Biz must adapt to tech as a service: Florian
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ tech GE says on video businesses must align with modern customer expectations.
09 Aug 2017
PODCAST: RBA’s Bullock on cash, payments & policy
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
RBA assistant governor chats to bluenotes about the bank’s latest survey and its implication for the payments sector.
02 Aug 2017
Is fintech back (and did you know it had gone)?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
For some, the fintech boom never subsided - but it’s clear its momentum and nature have shifted.
01 Aug 2017
ANZ focus is where we can win: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
CEO says bank’s strategy is about intense focus and delivery in segments it can win.
26 Jul 2017
Ripped off or not?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The debate around credit card surcharges has raised its head again in the wake of a ruling in Britain.
19 Jul 2017
Identity theft: stopping a digital zombie apocalypse
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Hordes of fake identities are being created for the purpose of illegally obtaining credit.
12 Jul 2017
The new, old, new work paradigm
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Rarely has there been a greater business focus on the need to fundamentally transform – and banks are at the epicentre.
11 Jul 2017
How to be an agile leader
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Ex-MYOB exec says agile leading involves giving up on old ideas of control.
05 Jul 2017
The GFC: When will it end?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
A decade after the financial crisis, have we learned anything? It’s a crisis which keeps on taking.
21 Jun 2017
China Australia: A marriage of more than convenience
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Australia China relationship is rarely out of the headlines – for better or worse. Both countries need each other.
19 Jun 2017
Agile is more than theatre: Carnegie
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Working agile requires business leaders to be much clearer about objectives, ANZ digital exec says.
14 Jun 2017
Trusted intermediaries: banks vs FANGs
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banking is essential to a modern economy but banks are not. Can FANGs fill the role?
07 Jun 2017
Banking industry: time to swot
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It’s lonely at the top. Banks need to learn from their mistakes.
05 Jun 2017
Elliott: banks must be more than profit
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO acknowledges companies must do more and help communities to thrive.
31 May 2017
Agile approach can work in banks: ex-IBM CIO
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Newly appointed ANZ advisory panel member says there’s no difference in the agile approach at a tech or financial services company.
30 May 2017
As fintech comes of age, who is checking the children?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Fintech isn’t breaking banks – but it’s big enough for regulators to start paying attention.
24 May 2017
The grass is greener across the ditch
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In Australia pessimism about the outlook prevails. It’s a different story in NZ. Why?
23 May 2017
VIDEO: success, the agile way
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ technology GE Gerard Florian speaks to bluenotes about the agile working experience.
16 May 2017
VIDEO: women don’t need fixing
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Launching her new book with bluenotes, Catherine Fox explains why women don’t need to be fixed – but the system does.
10 May 2017
ESG transparency crucial for biz: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ has a responsibility to be transparent about its impacts, CEO says.
10 May 2017
Beyond Good and Evil: AI and market forces
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The artificial brain is growing but no matter how smart it becomes its power will depend on mere mortals and market forces.
02 May 2017
Jablko: ANZ happy with capital position; has flexibility
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s portfolio rebalancing, improved productivity and lower provisions all contributed to a strong improvement in return-on-equity for the bank in the first half, ANZ chief financial officer Michelle Jablko says.
02 May 2017
ANZ overhauls its organisational approach to improve customer experience
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ is shaking up its management style in a move CEO Shayne Elliott hopes will improve the way the bank responds to customer needs, empower staff and improve productivity.
02 May 2017
ANZ strategy delivering improved returns: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ has delivered a strong half-year result which demonstrates consistency in execution, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says, adding he is optimistic for the full-year result.
26 Apr 2017
Vanuatu’s rocky road to prosperity
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
From one of Port Vila’s ritziest streets, the address of consulates, local rich-listers and senior multi-national executives, the views out over the stunning blue Erakor Lagoon are spectacular. But the road to get to these residences is spectacular for all the wrong reasons: its potholes are so huge, ubiquitous and unavoidable anything less than a 4WD would be foolhardy.
20 Apr 2017
Pressures and promise for banking in APAC
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Judging by the headlines of McKinsey & Co’s latest Asia-Pacific Banking Review, it’s becoming less attractive to bank in the region as an era when this part of the world was the most fertile for growth loses vigour.
20 Apr 2017
ON THE COUCH: Elliott on business’ most important resource
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
If you’re trying to work out the source of a problem in your business – no matter what the size – it’s worth taking a closer look at your people, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says.
12 Apr 2017
Bank of England: Do as I say, not as I do
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
For a central banker, Andy Haldane is a Shakespearean fool – not that he’s foolish, in fact exactly the opposite. Under the guise of speeches with titles like The Dog and the Frisbee he cuts through the pomp of the regulatory court with incisive and often irreverent – and sometimes perplexing – wit.
11 Apr 2017
ON THE COUCH: Culture, growth and purpose with Shayne Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Does business exist just to make money or is there a role for enlightened self-interest and helping communities work?
05 Apr 2017
Housing: boom or doom?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australians love talking about property – how expensive it is but also how desirable. At the same time as affordability is at cyclical lows and household debt at highs, both major Australian media organisations have launched huge, glossy inserted marketing magazines wallowing in the allure of luxury property.
04 Apr 2017
ANZ looks to future of wealth business; options open: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott says the bank is seeking a partner and exploring models for its wealth business but insists the industry remains critical to the bank’s customer proposition.
04 Apr 2017
Engaged people central to cultural change: van der Merwe
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Fostering the right culture, nurturing talent inside the organisation and investing in employee engagement are fundamental to the success of modern organisations, ANZ’s newly-appointed Group Executive, Talent & Culture says.
29 Mar 2017
VIDEO: where real leadership happens
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The idea everyone can be a leader is a myth, ANZ director Paula Dwyer says, but that doesn’t mean leadership can’t be found at every level of an organisation.
28 Mar 2017
ON THE COUCH: innovation & change in Singapore
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Goh Chok Tong has had a long, distinguished career in politics and public policy in Asia, including a crucial period as the Prime Minister of Singapore, succeeding founding PM Lee Kuan Yew.
22 Mar 2017
Community demanding more of biz leaders: Dwyer
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The role of senior business leaders in broader Australian society is changing as the community demands more of them according to ANZ director Paula Dwyer.
21 Mar 2017
ON THE COUCH: Singapore senior minister Goh on our crises of uncertainty
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Goh Chok Tong has had a long, distinguished career in politics and public policy in Asia, including a crucial period as the Prime Minister of Singapore, succeeding founding PM Lee Kuan Yew. Now, as the global trading landscape faces its biggest shakeup in decades, what does he expect will happen next?
21 Mar 2017
Social issues are shareholder issues
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There’s been polarised reaction in some quarters of Australia to a letter signed by 30 major business figures in support of marriage equality.
14 Mar 2017
All aboard fintech’s Trojan horse
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates as expected but all eyes are on the future as a slightly disappointed market reflects on what happens next.
01 Mar 2017
Maile Carnegie named ANZ head of digital
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ's Incoming Group Executive Digital Banking Maile Carnegie says the bank needs to look to solutions from the tech sector to succeed in an increasingly digital market - but adds digital "transplants" don't work.
28 Feb 2017
It’s banking, Jim – but not as we know it
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Trust is the word of the moment in banking: can customers trust banks? Can society? But banking has always been fundamentally a trust business: when neither borrowers nor lenders know one another well enough, they trust a bank to act as an intermediary.
22 Feb 2017
Can the next generation of coal power be banked?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Australia government has flagged an expansion of the mandate of its so-called ‘green bank’ to allow investment in clean-coal technologies – at the same time as the banking regulator delivered its most detailed comments to date on how banks should think about climate change.
17 Feb 2017
ANZ growing but still cautious: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ continues to grow but remains cautious of the economic environment despite posting a solid increase in cash profit for the first quarter.
14 Feb 2017
RegTech joins the C-Suite
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
A new ‘C’ has been added to the suite in banking: the Chief Security Information Officer. BlueNotes has a video interview this week with ANZ’s new CISO, Lynwen Connick, who comes from an eminent career in the Australian public service.
13 Feb 2017
VIDEO: ANZ names Lynwen Connick as cybersec chief
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks are obliged to do everything in their power to protect customers and their information, according to ANZ’s incoming chief information security officer, but need to do so without preventing access to popular services online.
06 Feb 2017
Bitcoin to live on like the Pterodactyl
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The reports of the death of Bitcoin may be exaggerations but they're out there.
02 Feb 2017
What's behind the Bank of Japan's Jedi mind trick? Less than nothing?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Japan's startling move to negative interest rates over the weekend again focusses attention on the limitations of monetary policy in combating an economic downturn.
31 Jan 2017
Asia game has changed but ANZ still a player: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ remains committed to the Asian region, CEO Shayne Elliott says, but changes to the economic and regulatory environment means the bank has had to adjust its strategy – not abandon it.
19 Dec 2016
BlueNotes Debate: trust, sustainability & corporate culture
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Issues of sustainability, trust and social licence are increasingly important across the political and business environment - as developments in the US, Britain and Australia upend long-held conventional wisdom about how it all works.
16 Dec 2016
Outlook: economies, currencies and commodities in 2017
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
A recent drop into negative growth in Australia will not be enough to keep the economy from growing above trend in 2017, while growth in the Asia Pacific regions will be limited by developments in the US and China.
14 Dec 2016
Fairness must be part of the customer experience: Neave
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It is increasingly important for businesses to ensure fairness is part of their customer experience amid an environment of wavering corporate trust, according to the outgoing Commonwealth Ombudsman and newly appointed ANZ Customer Fairness Advisor.
13 Dec 2016
Phi, Friedman and the purpose of business
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Trust, purpose, social licence, corporate responsibility - no matter which business or political forum you attend, these themes are likely to be aired, if not formally then in discussions before and after.
08 Dec 2016
How to work out working out loud (and avoid shouting)
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Traditionally conservative workplaces are slowly shifting to a new way of working as research shows knowledge-sharing initiatives like employee social networks can lift productivity by as much as 25 per cent.
07 Dec 2016
The benefits of being good
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Come the end-of-year festive break and the attention of senior bank executives, particularly in finance and compliance, shifts to the Swiss town of Basel and its population of regulatory gnomes who in recent years have delivered surprise presents at this time.
30 Nov 2016
Payments: beyond the pleasure and pain principle
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In the decades since payment cards entered commerce alongside cash their promoters have struggled to convince a significant minority of merchants the benefits of non-cash payments outweigh the costs.
22 Nov 2016
Darwin and the saltwater people
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Darwin’s strategic location as a trading port is no secret to the Larrakia people, the original custodians of the land and waters around the Northern Territory capital.
15 Nov 2016
Collateral damage: the emerging market growth story under threat
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Donald Trump presidency remains an unknown quantity. As Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Guy Debelle told a conference last week, the only certainty is uncertainty and if you’re going to write volatility insurance charge a high price for it.
09 Nov 2016
Aus bank results: lots of paddling below the water line against strong currents.
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The headline outcomes from the latest major bank profit reporting season (picking up Commonwealth Bank’s June year) were stark:
07 Nov 2016
VIDEO: ANZ names Gerard Florian as head of tech
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Technology is reshaping banking at a faster and faster rate, according to Incoming ANZ Group Executive, Technology, Gerard Florian. But banks must also balance the demands of consumers, regulators and technology as they push to provide innovative services to customers.
03 Nov 2016
Dividend sustainable; credit provisions elevated but stable; productivity gains: Jablko
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s new chief financial officer Michelle Jablko said the bank’s full-year result showed a focus on becoming a better-balanced, simpler, better-capitalised institution.
03 Nov 2016
Elliott: momentum building on rebalancing; key markets robust; cost control good
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The momentum behind ANZ’s rebalancing in key areas continues to build, while cost performance is improving and key markets remain robust, the bank’s CEO says.
02 Nov 2016
Massive growth in fintech (to a small share)
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banking will look radically different in 10 years’ time, probably even five. It will be digital – even though that means many things to different people. And financial technology start-ups – fintechs – will be behind much of the transformation.
29 Oct 2016
ANZ can keep growing: Smith
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO Mike Smith is confident the bank can maintain the strong market share growth which was a pillar of another record annual profit.
29 Oct 2016
Elliott still committed to Asia
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ remains committed to its Asian strategy after posting another record profit and doesn't envision changes to its payout ratio, according to ANZ chief financial officer and incoming chief executive Shayne Elliott.
26 Oct 2016
Data and the information pay-off
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
“Information wants to be free”, one of the most enduring internet memes, is often attributed to Steven Levy in his 1984 book Hackers.
18 Oct 2016
The procedural challenges in managing reputation risk
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There is little doubt much has been done on the risk and regulation front since the financial crisis of 2008. Nor is there any lack of debate about how effective the measures have been. The to-and-fro over capital, ‘too-big-to-fail’, acceptable profits, culture and remuneration continue.
12 Oct 2016
Robocops on the regulatory beat
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In Australia last week, the banking industry was focussed on a parliamentary inquiry into the industry’s culture and response to a range of issues from customer complaints to pricing to market behaviour.
28 Sep 2016
Is anyone cashing in on mobile wallets?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The seemingly inexorable trend towards a cashless society continues as contactless payments and mobile wallets replace cash in consumer commerce and real-time payments occur deeper and deeper into the world of small as well as large business.
20 Sep 2016
Disruptors: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em (or buy ‘em)
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Corporate balance sheets globally have a lot of cash with earnings solid and interest rates low but caution and limited opportunity for investment is leaving much of it unspent.
13 Sep 2016
The negativity of negative interest rates
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
One of the key things banks do is borrow money for short periods of time and lend it out for long periods - maybe take deposits for three months and make home loans for 20 years. It is what is called ‘maturity transformation’ and when all goes well, it’s a profitable business.
06 Sep 2016
The cost of misconduct
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The G20’s deliberations over the weekend demonstrated the financial crisis is not over some eight years later. Global growth is fragile, monetary policy fraught, trade barriers are growing not falling (for example, in the year up to the latest confab, G20 governments imposed 350 new measures discriminating against foreign commercial interests, almost four times the number in 2009).
06 Sep 2016
ANZ institutional strategy on track: Whelan
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ is making headway in the simplification of its institutional bank offering and a new strategy has received board approval but market conditions remain challenging, according to business head Mark Whelan.
30 Aug 2016
Yetsenga: Time to rethink India (and Asia)
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Promising developments are visible across a range of Asian economies, belying the mood of doom and gloom, ANZ’s new chief economist says, particular in India.
30 Aug 2016
Can you trust the future of banking?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
What finally sees off an ageing, ailing business model is not always the most obvious threat. In journalism, for example, the end of print newspapers may not come just because Facebook or the iPhone are now what is read on trains.
23 Aug 2016
The shadows are lengthening in the financial sector
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The global financial crisis is still with us. Its onset was unpredicted, its ramifications unpredictable. But at its heart was what otherwise discredited former American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld termed “unknown unknowns”.
16 Aug 2016
How much is too much bank capital?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It’s indisputable the level of core capital banks must carry is rising higher and higher; nor is it in dispute capital was too low when the financial crisis hit. Indeed, some prominent authorities, including former Bank of England governor Mervyn King and Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf, believe in even higher levels of capital.
09 Aug 2016
Is there a limit to the battle between borrowers and depositors?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As interest rates fall around the world to historic, even negative, levels, both public and technical debates are alive about the implications for banks.
09 Aug 2016
ANZ positive in slower-growth environment
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ is confident of improving returns as it moves to address a continued slow-growth environment and reduce its exposure to under-pressure sectors, CEO Shayne Elliott says.
02 Aug 2016
The fintech revolution: slower burn or slowly burning?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Venture capital investment hit a record in 2015. It won’t top that in 2016. The latest EY global venture capital trends report found $US148 billion invested through 8,381 deals in 2015 – the highest venture capital (VC) activity in nearly two decades.
19 Jul 2016
The mood doesn’t match the facts - and promise - of Townsville
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
From Castle Hill, the 300-metre pink granite monolith looming over Cleveland Bay and spectacular Magnetic Island, the city of Townsville looks a like it should be a flourishing economic centre.
12 Jul 2016
Nine out of ten people will do the right thing (and click this story)
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
How do you convince fiscal miscreants to pay their taxes on time? Simply tell them everyone else is doing it, it turns out. Behavioural economics does the rest for you.
11 Jul 2016
Nostalgia and the challenge of ageing
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Nostalgia is a beguiling, often sepia-toned wistfulness about a kinder, simpler past. It’s more prevalent the older we get. And advanced economies around the world are getting older.
05 Jul 2016
Bank investment with Clint Eastwood
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
No doubt it’s familiar to all but in the climactic showdown in Sergio Leone’s epic Western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly the three protagonists confront one another. A classic stand-off, in a cemetery no less, beloved of game theorists, the winner getting the money and the losers ending up, well, six-feetunder.
28 Jun 2016
Can you bank on brexit?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There are two particular groups devastated by Brexit: British pollsters and Japanese policymakers.
21 Jun 2016
Will there be a war to end cyber warfare?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
If ever the famous aphorism, dating back a century or more, about generals always fighting the last war rings true, it is in the war against cybercrime.
20 Jun 2016
VIDEO: Could Australia face a services-led labour shortage?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australia’s transition to a services economy will force businesses to reassess internal management practices as demand for labour surges in the lead up to 2030, according to ANZ’s Acting Chief Economist Richard Yetsenga.
15 Jun 2016
Fintech investment surges in Q1 but does that mean the Kodak moment nears for banks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There was a resurgence of activity in the financial technology (fintech) universe in the first quarter of the year after signs of potential rapid deflation at the end of 2015.
07 Jun 2016
The environmental market is heating up
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In the last month, both China and India have emphasised the critical role green investing can play in addressing environmental damage, carbon intensity and global warming; the global banking Financial Stability Board has expanded its climate-related financial disclosure task force; and a major investor group has published seven climate change policy priorities.
30 May 2016
Do taxpayers subsidise the banks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
That ratings agencies like Standard & Poor’s build an ‘implicit government guarantee’ into their ratings of the major Australian banks is not a surprise. It’s long been the case.
24 May 2016
The next evolution of financial services
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
If you want to know why only one in 50 fathers take up paid parental leave, listen in on the conversations they have with their male colleagues and bosses.
17 May 2016
The opportunity for efficient fintech is huge
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Whether it’s a bubble or not, the investment binge into financial services start-ups and financial technology companies (fintech) has long looked unsustainable. There are too many opportunities swimming in an evaporating pool of investment capital.
12 May 2016
Bringing digital banking into the branch
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s new ‘centre of the future’ in Sydney is part of a shift in the banking sector to bring digital into the branch for both staff and customers, ANZ Group Executive Australia Fred Ohlsson says.
10 May 2016
Have banks misjudged the credit cycle?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Credit quality, unsurprisingly, was the major focus of investors and analysts with the Australian bank interim results and trading updates.
09 May 2016
Batty: family violence happens to your staff
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Businesses are beginning to recognise their important role in preventing family violence, former Australian of the year Rosie Batty says, as statistics demonstrate the incidence of victims among their staff.
03 May 2016
Hodges: cost focus already paying off, new view on modern technology
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ has moved to recognise the changing pace of modern technology by taking more of the cost of depreciating technology up front, acting chief financial officer Graham Hodges says.
03 May 2016
Whelan: very tough conditions but refocus already showing results
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s institutional business dragged back stronger earnings from other divisions in the bank but division boss Mark Whelan said the bank was already well advanced in reshaping the business with early returns promising.
03 May 2016
Core ANZ business remains strong; restructuring for sustainable earnings: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott says the bank is making some hard decisions to reposition itself for the future after posting a fall in interim cash earnings but he stressed the bank’s core businesses remain strong.
02 May 2016
The fintech revolution is here and fintechs are being squeezed
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s announcement of a long-awaited joint venture with Apple to offer Apple Pay, and one for Android Pay looming, brings the relationship between established banks and financial technology companies – fintechs – to the fore.
28 Apr 2016
ANZ to offer Apple Pay as digital disruption accelerates
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ will become the first major bank in Australia to offer Apple Pay services in the latest significant development in the Australian payments sector.
27 Apr 2016
It’s not the best of times. But not the worst either – mixed messages on the economy
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The global economy continues to splutter with the International Monetary Fund once again downgrading its outlook (although still expecting growth) and a swarm of central banks expressing similarly gloomy views.
21 Apr 2016
Greater confidence in banks helps everyone: Ohlsson
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Australian Bankers’ Association has released a six-point action plan aimed at bolstering consumer confidence in banking, with a focus on protecting whistleblowers, strengthening customer-complaint processes and improving conduct.
20 Apr 2016
China transition on track: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
China’s transition toward a consumption-led economy is clearly underway.
19 Apr 2016
When banks lose the will to live
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Death is difficult to talk about. Even the quality media, which have long prided themselves on clarity and simple language, now regularly refer to “passing” rather than dying. There’re more euphemisms for dropping off the twig today than even Monty Python could cope with.
12 Apr 2016
Culture should be a shareholder metric
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australia’s banking system came through the financial crisis as well as any in the world. Taxpayers ultimately made money out of a government guarantee program, institutional failure – notably of market-funded mortgage specialists – was digested by the system.
05 Apr 2016
What leverage really means for banks
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks are leveraged plays on economies because they lend their capital many times over. So when economies are strong, banks perform even more strongly.
04 Apr 2016
BlueNotes debate: How much damage can disruption do?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BlueNotes Debates bring together important voices across the business, economic and social spectrum to thrash out where the issues lie. Managing editor Andrew Cornell recently chaired a forum of regional corporate advisory, restructuring and administration professionals. After debating their particular take on the outlook for 2016, the discussion turned to the impact of digital disruption.
30 Mar 2016
Japan's at a turning point – and that's a good thing
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Japan has entered its third “lost decade" of economic malaise following the collapse of its bubble economy in the early 90s.
22 Mar 2016
Which fintechs are DeLoreans and which are Toyotas?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Henry Ford, founder of the eponymous global car brand, famously dismissed market research with the observation “if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses".
08 Mar 2016
Want to be a bank boss?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
One of the interesting discussions sparked by Maile Carnegie's decision to leave Google to join this bank, ANZ, was around whether banks might soon be better run by technologists.
02 Mar 2016
ANZ realigns wealth operations
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says a changing environment for wealth management is behind a decision to bring services closer to customers while simplifying the wealth arm of the bank, including insurance.
01 Mar 2016
Despite volatility, China policy continues to support growing internationalisation of the RMB
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The ructions in China have inevitably shifted thinking around the role of China's currency, the renminbi (RMB). While China's stated long term aim is opening up its economy and internationalising the RMB, market turmoil and growth concerns have created new uncertainty.
23 Feb 2016
Agtech, restech, regtech, fintech – actual solutions or techno-babble?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
You have to move fast in modern technology: fintech is already passe. Apart from being a bubble (at least in the view of many analysts), tech savvy soothsayers and the occasional carpet bagger have already moved on to the next wave of digitally disruptive platforms, be they in agtech (agricultural technology), mining tech (smart technology for the resources industry) or regulatory technology.
22 Feb 2016
BlueNotes debate: bears v bulls in 2016
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BlueNotes Debates bring together important voices across the business, economic and social spectrum to thrash out where the issues lie. Managing editor Andrew Cornell recently chaired a forum of regional corporate advisory, restructuring and administration professionals to debate their particular take on the outlook for 2016.
17 Feb 2016
ANZ confident on operations, conditions challenging
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ is confident it can grow its underlying businesses but remains wary of challenging economic conditions in Asia after posting a rise in cash profit during the first quarter.
16 Feb 2016
BlueNotes debate: the innovation injection
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australia has the fourth-biggest pool of pension savings in the world and now a government which recognises innovation as critical to economic well-being. But the question then becomes: how can we ensure these funds are used to support Australian innovation in a way that supports both industry and super balances?
16 Feb 2016
What's wrong with banks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Bank shares, globally, have borne the brunt of the new year sell-off on equity markets. It's not good news and not just for those owning bank shares.
07 Feb 2016
BlueNotes debate: super innovation in superannuation
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australia has the fourth-largest pool of pension savings in the world and now a government which recognises innovation as critical to economic well-being. So how can we ensure these funds are used to support Australian innovation in a way that supports both industry and super balances?
27 Jan 2016
ANZ free to focus on strengths: Elliott
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
New ANZ chief executive officer Shayne Elliott says changes to ANZ's management structure are about refocussing on its strengths and driving value at the bank.
27 Jan 2016
Bank funding: costs rising at the critical short end
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Market volatility, concerns about major economies and the flow on for credit quality have been pushing up market interest rates and the funding costs for the global banking sector.
19 Jan 2016
Fintech surges - to tiny shares
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Even as global equity markets have plumbed depths not seen since the financial crisis, investor appetite for start-ups, particularly in the financial technology – 'fintech' – space has remained near insatiable.
29 Dec 2015
BlueNotes' best of 2015
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It's been a big year for ANZ BlueNotes in 2015 as we continue to strike to provide you with the best content at our disposal.
15 Dec 2015
Banking in 2016 – Where are the risks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There aren't many bank stock bulls among global investors. Understandable given global growth is still limp, geopolitical risk high, regulation uncertain and disruption on everyone's mind.
08 Dec 2015
Bank margins at the margin in Asia and Australia
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As a cadet finance reporter, every time I rang a broker about the stock market I had to steel myself for the wonderful insight “the market went up/down because there were more/less buyers than sellers”.
02 Dec 2015
Understanding Australia's risk culture – or lack thereof
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
An enduring theme in corporate Australia, picked up by a new prime minister, is concern around a lack of innovation, often sheeted back to a lack of risk appetite.
30 Nov 2015
Profiting from trust
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Where are the big risks for banks in 2016? ANZ Lending Services, which deals closely with the insolvency and risk management sector, last week rounded up a dozen or so specialists and asked them this question.
30 Nov 2015
The future of sustainable agriculture
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Food and water are two of the most basic essentials for human existence. Under pressure, we may well learn to live without the internet again but without food, water and acceptable air to breathe, we cease to exist.
25 Nov 2015
ANZ style and tactics will change, Asia presence won’t
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Incoming ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott says he will inherit an organisation that is very different, operating in a very different world, to the one Mike Smith took over in 2007 and that will demand a shift in how the bank operates.
24 Nov 2015
Is the blockchain defecting from Bitcoin to the banks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Go to Google Trends and compare “Bitcoin” and “Blockchain”. The former, the cryptocurrency that leapt to prominence 18 months ago, has declined steeply as a searched term - but off Alpine peaks and it's still at high altitudes.
17 Nov 2015
The climate challenge of lending "over the horizon"
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks ignore their regulators at their peril. So when the boss of the Bank of England, who is also chair of the global Financial Stability Board, devotes a major speech to the financial implications of climate change, it's prudent to pay attention.
10 Nov 2015
Full capacity at the regulation factories
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The global financial system regulators released a package of materials Monday night in the lead up to the forthcoming G20 summit in Turkey but it hardly allayed concerns the regulatory agenda was no closer to settling down.
04 Nov 2015
Are banks too profitable
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Financial Times' highly respected Lex column has delivered a slap to (northern hemisphere) bank executives, telling them to stop making promises they never keep.
27 Oct 2015
Cultivating risk
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The first law of thermodynamics is energy cannot be created or destroyed, just transformed from one state to another. That pretty much sums up the first law of risk as well.
20 Oct 2015
Leverage, risk, culture and Australian bank capital
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Westpac Banking Corp's decision to raise $A3.5 billion in new capital immediately raised investor questions about a new round of equity raisings even though the other three Australian majors had already raised comparable amounts.
15 Oct 2015
How business can help stop domestic violence
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australian of the Year Rosie Batty has become a tireless and poignant protagonist in the campaign to raise the profile and lower the human cost of domestic violence since the tragic death of her son at the hands of his father.
13 Oct 2015
Is Apple Pay a dud? And what about P2P?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Going viral is one of the favoured metaphors of the social and digital world but it is the nature of viruses to rapidly mutate, shifting targets and impacts.
09 Oct 2015
Silicon valley or death valley for Australia's start-up culture?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BlueNotes and PwC Capital Edge are presenting a series of discussions and roundtables with industry experts, ranging across the wide capital markets universe from start-ups and entrepreneurs to risk and digitalisation.
05 Oct 2015
CEOs on the couch: Smith and Elliott on strategy, culture and cars v trams
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
At the start of October, ANZ unveiled its CEO succession plan, with chief financial officer Shayne Elliott to take over from current boss Mike Smith on January 1, 2016. The two sat down with BlueNotes after the announcement to reflect on their time at the bank and imperatives for the future.
29 Sep 2015
Why would central banks want to kill off cash?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
A quarter of Australians have had it with cash. At least according to electronic payments network PayPal. The network's research found not only did 25 per cent of respondents not shop at cash-only businesses, more than half noted cash-only organisations were hard to do business with.
22 Sep 2015
Will new technologies change banks or will banks change new technologies?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Financial services companies around the world are signing up for consortia and joint ventures to keep pace with the accelerating digital disruption at a rate not seen… well not seen for a decade or so. Unsurprisingly, most of the latest partnerships orbit around financial technology, “fintech".
15 Sep 2015
Have crims developed a social conscience with tap'n'go?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The mass theft of payment card data aside, the biggest payments scam going in the United States at the moment is petrol theft – even as the cost of fuel falls.
01 Sep 2015
Triple bottom line: credit, market and op risk in ignoring the environment
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Coca-Cola apparently has a “global water steward”. His name is Greg Koch and his full title is “Senior Director of Global Water Stewardship”.
25 Aug 2015
What else is behind the fall in bank share prices?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banks obviously will not escape the current market carnage but over the longer term, and across a range of international indices, they are being sold off more than broader markets.
18 Aug 2015
China conniptions: what does it mean for banks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Barely had anxieties over a collapse on Chinese share markets began to ease and stress levels were heightened again with the formal intervention to lower the RMB, followed by a market sell-off.
14 Aug 2015
Short term volatility, long term global currency. How will the RMB move from today to the future?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Unsettling economic data, an equities meltdown, now intervention in the Chinese currency market by the central bank. Signs China is stepping back from financial liberalisation?
10 Aug 2015
Valley Speak: is what the technology world says worth listening to?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BlueNotes would not exist were it not for the ANZ board trip to Silicon Valley two years ago. It was then the board, and ANZ chief executive Mike Smith in particular, saw how powerful the shift to a digital and social world truly was.
04 Aug 2015
Regulation: not enough lifeboats. Or too many?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Following the Titanic disaster – the shipwreck not the movie – the global shipping industry and governments vowed to make sea travel safer.
23 Jul 2015
Prepare for the LNG boom
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Spiralling global demand has Australia facing a boom in its gas market similar to the ones seen in other commodities in past years, according to ANZ's head of commodity research, which could see LNG overtake iron ore as the main driver of Australia's exports in the export stakes and help push Australia's trade balance back toward the black.
14 Jul 2015
APRA to banks: be chaste but not yet
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Two things are clear about the future capital requirements for Australian banks following Monday's international capital comparison study by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
07 Jul 2015
Greece, China and the middle-income trap
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
For the Greeks, the most positive aspect of the referendum was its clear-cut outcome. For markets, the same can also be said.
29 Jun 2015
Intended, unintended and unexpected consequences of regulation
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There are two ways of reading these lines from the new Bank for International Settlements (BIS) annual report: “Despite substantial efforts to strengthen their capital and liquidity positions, advanced economy banks still face market scepticism. As a result, they have lost some of their traditional funding advantage relative to potential customers.”
23 Jun 2015
Letterman, Cara Delevingne and the lure of corporate journalism
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
At his peak in the mid 90s, David Letterman, the American talk show host, had around eight million viewers for his nightly variety act. Eight million people tuning in at the same time, households together around a TV screen.
10 Jun 2015
Cryptic questions for cryptocurrencies
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Cryptocurrencies and their enabling technologies have been back in the news with more traditional financial institutions globally, including banks, announcing trials or at least interest.
02 Jun 2015
Metropolis Now
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The 21st century may be the Asian Century or it may yet be the century the emerging world joins the developed world. But however this century plays out, it will be an Age of the City.
02 Jun 2015
Regulators want to regulate culture but who regulates culture for the non-regulated?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The issue of trust in banking has been headline news globally in recent months and particularly acute in Australia last week.
26 May 2015
Gonski on Gonski
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ and Coca-Cola Amatil chairman David Gonski has been approached many times over the years for an autobiography or memoir of his storied corporate life. The subtext of the offers though, Gonski suggests, is it wasn’t actually him they were interested in.
26 May 2015
Is green debt the answer to climate change?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ last week joined a growing list of financial institutions to offer a “green bond”.
18 May 2015
What price cyber risk?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In the financial crisis there was actually little correlation between financial institutions which ticked all the boxes on regulatory compliance, across any number of measures, and those that failed or flourished.
12 May 2015
Bank capital a focus but what about liquidity?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The focus during the Australian bank profit reporting season was, not unexpectedly, on capital. The amount needed, by when and for what.
05 May 2015
Smith: good result in tough times
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO Mike Smith says the bank's super-regional strategy helped it weather challenging operating conditions, supporting what he described as a "well-balanced result".
05 May 2015
Elliott: 16pct ROE still the aspiration
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ's chief financial officer Shayne Elliott says the bank can still achieve a challenging return-on-equity target despite difficult operating conditions in the first half.
04 May 2015
The RBA must put a price on innovation
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As giants like Apple and Google and China Union Pay, along with literally thousands of would-be disruptors, try to upend the global payments system, it may seem slightly anachronistic the Reserve Bank of Australia still has its focus on interchange fees – an agenda kicked off well over a decade ago when Apple still just made computers and Google was barely a verb.
28 Apr 2015
Financial integration lags the ASEAN boom is that a problem
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In what was a predominantly bullish and timely reminder the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) looms as the next economic giant in the region, a few challenges stood out in ANZ Research's latest economic insight, ASEAN: The Next Horizon.
21 Apr 2015
Offshoring the service sector is good for the economy – and jobs
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It’s taken a price collapse in the rock star commodity of the last half decade – iron ore – for many, maybe even Canberra, to realise Australia is not actually a resource economy.
14 Apr 2015
Anti-corruption in the North but anti-growth in the South
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In Asia, indeed in any of the markets where the financial crisis was a matter of contagion not primary infection, there's a prevailing view not all the doctor's orders are sensible.
08 Apr 2015
Interest rates, housing bubbles and macroprudential regulation: the Kiwis say it is All Black and white
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The missives of central bankers around the world are now studied with the same sort of intensity medieval scholars devoted to understanding the ancient texts. The legion of mystic druids of financial markets study the entrails seeking guidance from the gods on what “normal” and “patient” might mean for interest rates.
31 Mar 2015
Fintech and crowd funding, inflating the next bubble?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Disruption, particularly in financial services, is one of the hottest investment themes going.
24 Mar 2015
Negative rates, negative news
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
We are truly in an extraordinary environment when many real interest rates are negative – that is, inflation is higher than the rate being offered on securities like government bonds.
17 Mar 2015
Financial inclusion: good for people, good for growth
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Financial inclusion makes extraordinary differences to individual lives, whether in developing countries where a bank account can be the line between a poverty trap and a thriving business or in a developed economy where a debt cycle can become a wealth plan.
10 Mar 2015
Climate change a financing challenge and becoming more complex
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Anyone still in doubt about whether the world’s major economies are moving ahead with a price on carbon should pay attention to what is being said at China’s National People’s Congress where the political, social and economic priorities of the world’s next economic superpower are being laid out.
03 Mar 2015
Too big to fail or too big to manage?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
“Too big to fail” is the moral hazard conundrum at the centre of the debate about the future of financial services, anchoring issues such as how the sector should be structured, regulated, financed. More than two dozen global banking behemoths have been officially designated too-big-to-fail or in regulator-speak “globally systemically important banks”.
24 Feb 2015
Do you really need a smart phone to make a payment?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It sounds like the set up for a joke: a bunch of guys are sitting around for their regular get together, eating and drinking, before they realise none of them can pay.
20 Feb 2015
BlueNotes Debate – The Outlook for 2015 Part Two: Stress Points
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BlueNotes Debates bring together important voices across the business, economic and social spectrum to thrash out where the issues lie. Managing editor Andrew Cornell chaired a forum of regional corporate advisory, restructuring and administration professionals to debate their particular take on the outlook.
17 Feb 2015
Australia, beautiful for banking one day but what about the next?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It is still said that, economically speaking, Australia is basically a quarry, farm and beach. Resources, agriculture, tourism.
17 Feb 2015
Smith: solid December quarter but boring is still good
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ chief executive Mike Smith told BlueNotes the December quarter earnings were much as he had expected but he still believed “boring” bank results were good in uncertain times.
17 Feb 2015
Currency, market volatility overlay strong earnings momentum at ANZ
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
A lower Australian dollar is “ultimately a good thing for shareholders” ANZ chief financial officer Shayne Elliott told BlueNotes in a video interview on the release of a December quarter trading update.
10 Feb 2015
Do rate cuts mean full steam ahead for Aussie bank shares?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The investor-focussed traditional weekend media in Australia did a thorough go over of the implications of the Reserve Bank’s somewhat surprising decisions to cut the overnight cash rate 25 basis points last week.
05 Feb 2015
ANZ cuts home rates to match RBA, moves early
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ will lower its interest rate for variable rate mortgages by 0.25 percentage points following its monthly interest rate review.
03 Feb 2015
Global softness forced RBA to cut: Chronican
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The numerous economic troubles facing the world, rather than any one large issue, played a role in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to cut interest rates to a record low of 2.25 per cent, according to ANZ Australia CEO Phil Chronican.
03 Feb 2015
Digital is boring
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
If the age of digital financial services has not yet arrived completely, it’s not for lack of publicity. Every consultant worth their MBA has contributed something on digital disruption and 2015 has kicked off with leagues of reports.
27 Jan 2015
New ANZ debt issue shows Asian tiger leaving the cage
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service noted investment-grade 10 year corporate bond yields had, on hitting 4.42 per cent last week, reached their lowest level since 1957. Yields on the global benchmark US 30 year Treasury bonds are also at historic lows.
20 Jan 2015
Murray stepped back on bank capital but Basel has stepped up
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Looking at the top 10 stocks on the Australian stock exchange, the dominant role played by the Big Four banks in equity portfolios is clear. The top two stocks are banks: Commonwealth Bank and Westpac Banking Corp. In positions four and five are ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank.
13 Jan 2015
Are banks like Kodak? Or capable of adapting to a new world?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Come the new year and the tenor of most commentary is inevitably what does the future hold? In the financial services sector that speculation tends to fall into two categories: for markets like Australia, with a healthy system where banks dominate investment portfolios, the question is can their performance continue to sustain expectations for dividends and capital growth.
24 Dec 2014
The BlueNotes Debate: Will 2015 belong to the bulls or the bears?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
BlueNotes Debates bring together important voices across the business, economic and social spectrum to thrash out where the issues lie. Managing editor Andrew Cornell chaired a forum of regional corporate advisory, restructuring and administration professionals to debate their particular take on the outlook.
23 Dec 2014
A year – almost – in BlueNotes
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Twelve months ago, when I’d been at ANZ a couple of weeks, BlueNotes publisher Paul Edwards had a couple of central ideas about the yet-to-be-named online publication I’d been hired to edit.
19 Dec 2014
New Aus bank capital regime will be evolution not revolution
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
While markets have focussed on possible new capital requirements for Australian banks in the wake of a major review, ANZ chief financial officer Shayne Elliott notes the new regime will come in gradually and banks have many options to manage the shift.
16 Dec 2014
Murray was right to support the principles of regulation not set the letter
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There’s been a major financial system review produced, concerns linger around a housing bubble, consumer confidence is fragile, the banking sector is dominated by a group of majors and the resource economy is making a slow transition to other growth drivers.
02 Dec 2014
Flagfall finally for Australia’s real time payments revolution
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
After a few delays and strong arming from the Reserve Bank of Australia, sufficient financial institutions, including the big banks, have now signed up to build Australia’s real time payments system, the prosaically named 'New Payments Platform', the NPP.
25 Nov 2014
Central bankers need to talk the talk
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The United States Federal Reserve has taken navel gazing to a new level with two of its officers publishing a paper on the way the Fed talks.
18 Nov 2014
It takes more than two to tango in the new world of payments
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It now seems likely, following some very strongly encouraging words by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens in a recent speech, that enough major payments-industry participants have signed up to make a start on Australia’s long-expected real time payments platform.
11 Nov 2014
G20 looking at global bank rules but regulator emphasises culture
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Having covered a few multi-lateral summits in my time – the best being the G8 held in Okinawa (remote to deter protestors but a tropical paradise) – I have a lot of sympathy for Brisbane where the G20 gathering will take place this week.
05 Nov 2014
Watershed moment in funding of record bank profits
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Westpac rounded out the Australian bank profit reporting season on Monday for those banks with a September year (Commonwealth Bank, with a June year, has a trading update this week) and one set of figures stood out: total loans grew 8 per cent over the year to $580.3 billion while total customer deposits grew 7 per cent to $409.2 billion.
31 Oct 2014
ANZ CEO Mike Smith walks through the full year result
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Mike Smith walks through the components of ANZ’s September year result, across geographies, operations and outlook.
28 Oct 2014
Stress tests and inquiries not just about banks
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Three of Australia and New Zealand’s four major banks report their full year profits over the next two weeks and the fourth, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, will provide a trading update. The consensus of public forecasts is for a solid season absent of one-offs such as restructuring costs.
24 Oct 2014
BlueNotes managing editor finalist in Walkley journalism awards
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The founding managing editor of BlueNotes, Andrew Cornell, is a finalist in the Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique category in the Australian Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism, the most prestigious Australian journalism awards.
23 Oct 2014
The first small steps to giving
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The philanthropic universe is tilting. There are no longer clear lines between business, charities, not-for-profits and those who give. Those groups receiving funds realise they are in a competitive market, they must be able to demonstrate the difference they make.
21 Oct 2014
An Apple on Pay won’t keep the banks away
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The abolition of signatures as a means to verify credit card payments has prompted some alarming media coverage, such as the story noting a restaurant owner had to send customers around the corner to an ATM to get cash to pay their bill.
14 Oct 2014
Regulatory response to housing bubble all in the past
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It’s possible David Murray’s Financial System Inquiry may make some recommendations on bank capital. It’s also possible the Reserve Bank of Australia may introduce some so-called “macro-prudential” measures to address particular concerns around asset bubbles.
30 Sep 2014
Australian financial centres losing out even as plates tilt to Asia
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As a Melbournian, the fact that Sydney is failing to deliver as a regional financial centre admittedly triggers a little schadenfreude. After all, they did steal the Olympics.
26 Sep 2014
The secret to better banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Banking, according to ANZ’s CEO of International and Institutional Banking Andrew Géczy, is just as much about monetising insight as it about capital.
23 Sep 2014
Is there still value in bank stocks?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There is only one share price, just as there is only one official interest rate. But these truisms are easily forgotten when economists pore over data entrails to foretell the next central bank move.
23 Sep 2014
Don’t write off Chinese property: Mike Smith
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ CEO Mike Smith has defended the health of the Chinese property market, and warned against extrapolating small amounts of regional data and applying it across the country.
18 Sep 2014
Philanthropy: are we getting better at it?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In this second of our in-depth series on the Passion and Science of Giving, internet entrepreneur and dedicated philanthropist Daniel Petre delivers a forthright analysis of philanthropy in Australia.
16 Sep 2014
Who wins when cash payments disappear?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The banking industry has long reassured itself that even if customers don’t always like banks, they trust them. And trust is the over-riding base of a financial relationship.
09 Sep 2014
Bank capital blow up
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960s counter-culture classic Blow-Up, a hip photographer inadvertently captures what may be evidence of a murder in the background of a picture he’s taken.
02 Sep 2014
Surcharge surprise for the Murray Inquiry
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There’s something misleading about the term “surcharge”. Technically it sounds right – the “sur” prefix does denote over or above or more and a surcharge is an extra payment. But the implication is of a payment for an extra service.
31 Aug 2014
More capital costly without significantly improving Aus financial system
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Australian financial system is dramatically more resilient than before the financial crisis - and even since global regulatory reviews two years ago - according to ANZ’s response to the Interim Report of the Financial System Inquiry.
28 Aug 2014
Great relationship banking crucial for long term associations
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ held its biennial Asia Investor Tour in Hong Kong in July with senior International and Investment Banking executives briefing institutional investors and analysts on the next phase of the bank’s Asian strategy. One of the most highly engaged sessions was a discussion with three major Asian clients, facilitated by senior banker Tony Souza.
26 Aug 2014
ANZ’s new international chief Farhan Faruqui articulates the challenge – and opportunity
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The appointment in May of Farhan Faruqui as ANZ’s CEO International Banking caused plenty of chatter in the close knit banking circles of Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. The Citi veteran of nearly a quarter of a century is one of the highest profile hires in Asia since Mike Smith launched ANZ’s super regional strategy in 2007.
26 Aug 2014
The dangers of false certainty in financial regulation
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The second round of submissions to the Murray Financial System Inquiry close today and the FSI proposes to make most of them public on Friday. But recent public forums and speeches by David Murray, the chair, and committee members have added emphasis and indeed some new themes to the interim report released in July.
19 Aug 2014
The passion and science of giving
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The philanthropic universe is tilting. There are no longer clear lines between business, charities, not-for-profits and those who give. Those groups receiving funds realise they are in a competitive market, they must be able to demonstrate the difference they make.
19 Aug 2014
Australian banks continue to bewilder the northern hemisphere
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The tale of the bank profit results and trading updates so far is retail banking is very healthy, business banking promises better but is yet to deliver and the credit cycle, almost incredibly, continues to defy sceptics.
15 Aug 2014
Capital strong, credit quality still positive
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
We can and we are producing returns [in Asia] above our cost of capital today and we can improve from where we are now.
15 Aug 2014
Mike Smith: solid result, optimism about economy
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
It was a really solid result across the bank … it reflects well on the strategy
13 Aug 2014
Crossing the Tasman with Mike Smith
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There was a full ballroom at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt today for the Trans-Tasman Business Circle business forum with ANZ CEO Mike Smith. Here’s the key takeaways from my wide-ranging conversation with Mike.
13 Aug 2014
Innovation – in regulation not just products and services – vital for the digital age
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Legislation that was written in an old world environment needs to be refreshed and modified.
05 Aug 2014
Want to run an Aussie bank? Head to New Zealand
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
New National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn heralded his rein by anointing a new court of senior management. Much has been said about his choices and those who will leave the bank but one particularly interesting aspect is the deeper entrenchment of New Zealand banking in Australia.
04 Aug 2014
The NZ multi-national that started off spooking the horses
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Maybe for some, the leap from electric fences keeping herds of animals under control to security at Buckingham Palace is not really such a huge one. It’s still a pretty good story though and one that in essence captures the nature of one of New Zealand’s most successful multi-national corporations, Gallagher.
25 Jul 2014
Top takeaways from the Asia Investor Tour
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Key themes, key charts, what participants thought.
24 Jul 2014
Big corporates strong growth story for ANZ’s Asian business
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Revenue per major customer grows exponentially as that customer is banked across multiple countries, reinforcing the fundamentals of ANZ’s super regional strategy.
24 Jul 2014
ANZ IIB takes less risk for more income, sees through the cycle ROE around 13 per cent
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ’s International and Institutional bank is more than covering its cost of capital as it moves from investment in building an Asian network to “production” and the division’s chief executive Andrew Géczy believes a “through the cycle” return on equity of around 13 per cent is appropriate for the business.
23 Jul 2014
ANZ’s Géczy outlines new, more intense phase of Asian strategy
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
ANZ has laid out its strategy for deepening and improving returns from its super regional strategy with an emphasis on tighter customer focus, more rigorous selection of relationships and improved productivity.
22 Jul 2014
Basic literacy critical for financial health, FSI questions aside
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
One of the slightly concerning elements in the interim report of the Murray Financial System Inquiry was an apparently ambivalent attitude to financial literacy. Throughout the report, particularly in regard to superannuation and investment, financial literacy is recognised as a necessary if not sufficient condition for better outcomes.
22 Jul 2014
B20 fanfare sounds but now the real battle begins
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The business carriage of the Group of 20 caravan has moved on with the B20 holding its major presentation and releasing its recommendations in Sydney last week, emphasising not only was the Australian government’s incremental 2 per cent growth target possible but it could be beaten.
15 Jul 2014
FSI tackles efficiency, tech and super costs
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
For Australia’s last two major financial system inquiries, Campbell in 1981 and Wallis in 1997, the inquisitors could and did recommend and the government could and did accept measures which fundamentally reshaped the economy and its place in the world.
08 Jul 2014
Good behaviour can't be regulated
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In facing the media about Commonwealth Bank’s response to its financial planning malfunction, CBA chief executive Ian Narev made a crucial point about culture and regulation.
01 Jul 2014
The new China economy is already here but many are missing it
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
China stories often begin with a variation on the line about the Chinese word for crisis being composed of two characters, one danger and the other opportunity. That’s not quite right, the second character is, less precisely, “critical point”.
01 Jul 2014
BIS holds line, supervision must remain intrusive
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The Bank for International Settlements, the Basel-based “central bank for central banks” as it is known, has just released its annual report and the key themes are particularly worthy central bank favourites: markets out of synch with reality, the dangers of fudged data and an economically unsustainable misallocation of resources.
23 Jun 2014
New Zealand’s Bull – or Cow – Rush
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In the huge produce hall at Fieldays in Hamilton New Zealand, the southern hemisphere’s largest agricultural trade fair, a sausage and small goods maker was lamenting how difficult he was finding it to secure supplies of top quality beef and lamb.
23 Jun 2014
Aust bank fees down but revenue pressure for banks
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Bank fees in Australia continued their downward trend as a percentage of loans and deposits in 2013 according to the latest Reserve Bank of Australia review, good news for customers. Bank fees from households are now $1 billion or 20 per cent lower than their peak in 2009.
18 Jun 2014
Market intel - not just price - key to insto banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Corporate and institutional clients are looking for more detailed market intelligence from their relationship bankers rather than simply well priced product and services according to ANZ’s CEO International and Institutional Banking Andrew Géczy.
17 Jun 2014
Short Aussie banks to bet on a China crisis?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
There’s no doubt the Financial Times has some of the finest business writers in the caper – and their World Cup coverage is wonderful too – so it wasn’t a huge surprise the FT’s Lex column managed to summarise an enduring theme so pithily.
09 Jun 2014
Do crims tap-and-go?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
In Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, where the ANZ mothership is berthed, there’s dozens of small cafes and lunch spots. Almost all accept contactless card payments, the so-called “tap and go” system.
05 Jun 2014
New openings in India
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
New openings in India.
03 Jun 2014
Japan’s mega-banks have big Asian ambitions
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
News two of Japan’s mega-banks, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ, are stalking the American operations of French bank BNP Paribas may have caused ripples in American banking but it would be no surprise to Asians.
27 May 2014
A Chinese global currency is approaching
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Delivering his opening remarks to the second Australia-Hong Kong RMB Trade and Investment Dialogue, Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Norman Chan outlined the enormous growth in usage of the Chinese currency internationally since the first tentative openings just three years ago.
20 May 2014
What is quality journalism?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
As a journalist for more than three decades, two of them at the Australian Financial Review and the last five months here at ANZ, I’ve spent my career in the game and am heavily invested in its future.
13 May 2014
Shaky Isles shake up bank returns
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Not unexpectedly, this latest reporting season for three of the four major Australian banks was typified by a hard slog on revenue, a grind on cost control and cyclically low bad and doubtful debt charges.
06 May 2014
Of Bread and Banking
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
That Australia’s economic productivity is not a good story is well known but some media reports of the latest productivity commission work at least provided a cause: artisan breads. You know, sourdoughs, batards, boules, casalinghi, Mongolian yak loaves.
30 Apr 2014
Australian economy needs to promote growth, get costs down
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The idea that manufacturing is dead and dying in this country is a myth.
30 Apr 2014
Asia is a point of difference, high growth and improving returns
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Australia and New Zealand’s connection to the region is much stronger than it was say five years ago and both countries are starting to get that.
30 Apr 2014
Asia, cost control, credit quality lift profit, dividend
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Most of the divisions have put in a pretty good performance in what was not an easy environment.
29 Apr 2014
Central bankers talk a good game
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Consider the most powerful tools of global central banks: interest rates, payments policy, quantitative easing. And then there’s jawboning, talking about themselves.
22 Apr 2014
Is there a Bad Moon on the Rise for bank results?
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The interim profit season looms for four of the five major Australian banks and some of the regionals, a time when investors will take stock of whether the strong run in bank shares – despite some jitters – can continue.
15 Apr 2014
New chairman fated to rejoin Mike Smith
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
David Gonski, ANZ’s incoming chairman, has form with chief executive Mike Smith.
15 Apr 2014
Bitcoin and lessons from the Australian mortgage market
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
The enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto, who may or may not be a person or a collective or a “creative cloud”, carries a profound warning for traditional financial services companies which goes deeper than cyber currencies and security.
04 Apr 2014
Asia resilient as rates, regulation rise
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
Andrew Géczy, ANZ’s CEO International and Institutional Banking, took on the role just on six months ago after nearly seven years of rapid network expansion and acquisition in the region – and a financial crisis which led to a rewriting of the regulatory landscape.
01 Apr 2014
Big dividends if Murray inquiry can solve the micro not macro issues
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
David Murray, in calling for submissions to the financial system inquiry he is chairing, exhorted interested parties not to push a narrow self interest. Of course, most submitters ignored him.
ANZ Board Minutes: the full series
Andrew Cornell | Managing Editor, bluenotes
bluenotes in wide conversation with ANZ’s Board of Directors in the Board Minutes series.