Macquarie cashes in on volatility
Nick OâKane, Macquarieâs commodities and global markets head, earned almost as much as former CEO Allan Moss did in the pre-GFC boom times as his division helped generate a record profit.
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Macquarie Groupâs record 2021 profit is built on the outstanding performance of the commodities and global markets division, which capitalised on volatility in energy, credit, precious metals and currency markets.
The CGM business benefited from a weather event in the United States in February that contributed to inventory management and trading income soaring from $178 million in 2020 to $976 million this year.
How APRA could slow the hot property market
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Non-bank lenders and income-to-debt ratios are likely targets for regulatory intervention, as economists tip a tightening of macroprudential standards following the return of investors into the hot property market.
Rhizome co-founder Will Peterson, referring to APRA: “My expectation is there is going to be some kind of macroprudential tightening, it’s just a question of what measures they use.”
Jessica Hromas
In its quarterly statement on monetary policy, the RBA acknowledged the record low overnight cash rate of 0.1 per cent was flowing through to the residential property market.
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“APRA has made it clear it has no mandate to control house prices, but it will need to act if risks are growing on the balance sheets of regulated banks or there are financial stability concerns,” the regulator’s former head of credit and now executive director at Rhizome Advisory, Will Peterson, said.
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at 11:20 am on May 7, 2021 | 24 comments
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) deputy governor, Guy Debelle, gave a speech last night whereby he said the central bank is aware of concerns in the community regarding rising house prices.
However, Debelle expressed the view that monetary policy is not one of the ‘tools’ that should be used to address the issue. He also noted that unemployment would be higher if the RBA prematurely increased interest rates in an attempt to curb rising house prices:
One price that has received a lot of attention has been housing prices…
Property price rises are a welcome sign of a return to normal
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There can be no clearer sign that the economy is getting back to normal than the conversations around town expressing excitement and outrage at the rise in property prices.
Herald has reported on the frenzy to jump into the market.
Banks say they are struggling to process loan applications and ANZ Bank boss Shayne Elliott said this week he was winding back advertising home loans because he could not cope with the huge influx of applications. Sydneysiders are once again reeling in shock at the seven-figure bonanza paid for a fixer-upper at the bad end of the street.
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Guy Debelle, the central bank s deputy governor, acknowledged record-low interest rates were bad for the young trying to buy their first home but argued failing to tackle unemployment would have worse social consequences. It is important to remember that while housing prices may not rise as fast without the monetary stimulus, unemployment would definitely be materially higher without the monetary stimulus, he said on Thursday night. Unemployment clearly has large and persistent distributional consequences.
The RBA on Friday updated its economic forecasts to have unemployment falling to 4.75 per cent by June 2022 and to 4.5 per cent by December 2022, a level last touched in November 2008.