National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) fell in Sydney trading after flagging a possible increase in provisions at its British operations, overshadowing a 7 percent increase in first-quarter profit, Bloomberg News reported. Shares of Australia’s biggest bank by assets slid as much as 2.8 percent, the biggest intraday decline in three months, and traded 1.9 percent lower at A$34.50 at 11:53 a.m. in Sydney. Provisions for some tailored business loans and compensation to U.K. customers for wrongly sold payment-protection insurance may rise, the Melbourne-based lender said in a statement today.

Australia’s unemployment rate climbed to the highest in more than 10 years in January, spurring traders to pare bets on an interest-rate increase and sending the Aussie to its biggest drop in almost three weeks. The jobless rate rose to 6 percent from 5.8 percent, the statistics bureau said in Sydney. The median estimate was an increase to 5.9 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The number of people employed fell by 3,700. International carmakers Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co.

Insolvency firm Ferrier Hodgson has been appointed as voluntary administrator by the board of bankrupt contractor Forge Group, sources close to the situation told The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk. The next step is that lender ANZ Banking Group will take control by appointing KordaMentha as receiver. ANZ extended Forge an additional $11 million line of credit in the past fortnight, which was being used to pay Forge employees and for other working capital expenses.

The ANZ bank has sold about $200 million of debt owed to it by failed Tasmanian timber company Gunns, The West Australian reported. The bank was the lead creditor when Gunns collapsed in 2012. ANZ says it is no longer part of the Gunns banking syndicate and is not involved in providing finance for the proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill. The sale happened in last September before expressions of interest were called for Gunns' assets, including the pulp mill project.

Australia’s four largest banks will need to carry an extra 1 percent of core tier 1 capital from Jan. 1, 2016, due to their systemically important status, according to the country’s banking regulator, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp. need to have a greater capacity to absorb losses, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) said in a statement yesterday.

Around 60 staff have lost their jobs at the Australian Ksubi fashion label, which has been placed under receivership, The Australian reported. The trendy street brand was founded by George Garrow and Dan Single in 1999 and worn by the likes of supermodel Miranda Kerr and celebrity Nicole Richie. On Tuesday, it was placed under the receivership of advisory firm Jirsch Sutherland. In a statement, Jirsch Sutherland said it was assessing the label's financial position, including "necessary rationalisation of overheads including staff at head office".

Iconic Victorian discount retailer Dimmeys is close to administration, as yesterday it copped a $3 million penalty for breaching product safety laws. Dimmeys and distribution company Starite Distributors were penalised $3 million and $600,000 respectively for breaching product safety laws on girls’ padded swimwear, baby bath toys, cosmetic sets and basketball rings. The Federal Court also ruled the director of both companies, Douglas Zappelli, be fined $120,000 and banned from managing corporations for six years.

With Christmas just weeks away 76 people have lost their jobs as another Mackay business has been forced to close its doors. MACS Engineering went into voluntary administration yesterday with Derrick Vickers and Darryl Kirk, of PwC, appointed as administrators. The decision has come as a shock to many. Director Simon Mortess only spoke with the Daily Mercury in August about the company's expectation of riding out the mining downturn. At the time, Mr Mortess said they had decided to diversify their business into coal seam gas, which was part of a strategy that started two years ago.

Regional NSW carrier Brindabella Airlines is in the hands of receivers KordaMentha after it failed to recover from the grounding of eight of its 10 aircraft because of overdue maintenance checks, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Commonwealth Bank had a fixed and floating charge over the Canberra airline's assets. Brindabella said on Saturday it had "temporarily" suspended operations even though the Civil Aviation Safety Authority was allowing two of its Jetstream aircraft to remain in service.

Australia's Treasury painted a grimmer growth outlook for the US$1.5 trillion economy, as the new conservative government searched for support to end a political impasse over the country's debt ceiling, The Wall Street Journal reported. Australia's Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson said it would be "prudent" to raise the legislated debt cap from 300 billion Australian dollars (US$282 billion) to A$500 billion, given a worsening economic outlook as the country grapples with the end of a decadelong resources boom.