After winning over some of the biggest retirement plans in the US, private credit managers have found new fertile ground for their investment pitch: Australia’s $2.3 trillion pension industry, Bloomberg News reported. Four of the top-10 pensions Down Under -- Australian Retirement Trust, HostPlus, UniSuper and Colonial First State -- are making significant increases to their private credit allocations, according to recent statements and interviews with Bloomberg News. AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest, is midway into a three-year push to triple its allocation.
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Australian retail sales declined for the first time this year in October, suggesting that households are finally beginning to feel the strain of faster inflation and rising interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Sales dropped 0.2% from September, confounding economists’ estimates for a 0.5% gain, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday. No one predicted a decline, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia coming closest, forecasting no change.
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Former Comanchero bikie boss Mohamad “Mick” Hijazi is facing bankruptcy at the hands of the taxation watchdog after allegedly failing to cough up more than $500,000 in debt, WAToday reported. Federal Court documents show that the Australian Taxation Office is pursuing a sequestration order against the 47-year-old’s estate in a bid to recoup the funds owed. The court action relates to a $556,165 bill Hijazi was handed by the New South Wales District Court, but allegedly failed to pay.
For two hours in a parliamentary committee room, the Reserve Bank on Thursday came face to face with the reality created by the economic and political turmoil of the past two years, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The RBA is central to the economic turmoil – soaring prices, interest rates climbing at their fastest rate in a generation, falling house values – that is vexing central banks around the world. But the political turmoil, driven in part by the nation’s economic backdrop, is a little alien to the monetary policy mandarins of Martin Place.
The head of Australia's central bank on Tuesday said further increases in interest rates would likely be needed to tame inflation, and it was ready to go faster on hikes or to pause for a time if necessary, Reuters reported. In a speech in Tasmania, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said the policy making board was aware that rates had risen sharply in a short period of time and this was combining with high inflation to pressure household budgets.
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Australia’s central bank faces a tough task in deciding whether to persist with smaller interest-rate increases or U-turning back to outsized hikes to try to gain control of hotter-than-expected inflation, Bloomberg News reported. Financial markets and most economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Reserve Bank will deliver a second straight quarter percentage-point rise at Tuesday’s meeting. That would take the cash rate to 2.85%, the highest level since April 2013. But there are still some high-profile dissenters and doubters.
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Australian inflation raced to a 32-year high last quarter as the cost of home building and gas surged, a shock result that stoked pressure for a return to more aggressive rate hikes by the country's central bank, Reuters reported. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday showed the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.8% in the September quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6%. The annual rate shot up to 7.3%, from 6.1%, the highest since 1990 and almost three times the pace of wage growth.
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An Australian regulator hit one of the country’s main casino operators with a record fine, as authorities increase scrutiny of an industry that has faced questions over how it attracts international high-rollers, particularly from China, the Wall Street Journal reported. Star Entertainment Group Ltd., which runs a large casino in Sydney, was fined 100 million Australian dollars, equivalent to $62 million, by the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission on Monday.
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A smaller-than-anticipated rate hike in Australia has fueled talk that global monetary tightening will slow as the growth outlook turns, Reuters reported. For some, the debate is premature with the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve unlikely to ease up on the brakes until inflation shows clear signs of slowing.
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Australia's central bank on Tuesday surprised markets by lifting interest rates by a smaller-than-expected 25 basis points (0.25%), saying they had already risen substantially, though it added that further tightening would still be needed, Reuters reported. Wrapping up its October policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised its cash rate to a nine-year peak of 2.60%, the sixth hike in as many months, which included four outsize moves of 50 basis points. The bank had recently flagged a possible slowdown in the pace of hikes at some point.
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