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  • 🏦 Australia’s CPI Sees 3.5% Rise in July 2024 Amid Economic Changes

🏦 Australia’s CPI Sees 3.5% Rise in July 2024 Amid Economic Changes

Author

Miko Santos
August 28, 2024

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Good Morning. Miko here! Welcome to Bada Embankment! I just wanted to give you a quick update on what's going on across Australia and New Zealand. I'm really sorry that we didn't have an issue on Tuesday because of an unforeseen event.

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Today’s reading time is 6 minutes. - Miko Santos

👇 Santos Unfiltered is a podcast that uses the best journalism to find the answers to the biggest questions.

SANTOS

🛎️ AFTER THE BELL

market

Data is provided by Market Index AU. Stock data as of market close

🥝 BNZ
BNZ Leads New Zealand in Open Banking with API Implementation

BNZ is the first bank to have reached the mark set up by Payments NZ—it has already achieved its aggressive target in a major milestone.

The Details:

  • BNZ has adopted the Payments NZ Account Information API v2.1 standards that allow New Zealanders to securely share their financial information with accredited providers in the conduct of open banking. The standards ensure customers have full control over their data sharing in terms of who to share it with and the ability to stop doing so.

  • Making sure standards are adopted means that Payments NZ has required New Zealand's major banks to establish Account Information API v2.1 standards by November 2023, coinciding with the deadline until May 2024 for APIs to support direct account payments initiated through third-party applications.

  • BNZ has achieved this in 2023, and already, with more than 250,000 customers, the first benefits have been realized from innovative services such as Xero, Volley, and Blinkpay connecting into BNZ through secure APIs.

  • Such real-time access to financial data enables other companies and FinTech to provide a wide array of financial personalized products and services, from tools that can handle budgets and plans for saving money to detailed information and applications for loans with strong methods for fraud detection and prevention.

  • The Consumer and Product Data Bill, now being considered by Parliament, will put this Consumer Data Right into action and make it easier to share consumer data across open, different sectors.

Why this matters:

Open banking initiatives, such as that of BNZ, become essential in competition, innovation, and enabling a customer to access full potential in the financial industry. They enable customers to safely share their financial data in order to provide customized solutions designed for a single person. They add to better customer experiences and a greater ability to collaborate between traditional banks and fintech firms for ongoing improvement.

Bottomline:

Customer Data and Product Bill will provide the pathways for the same initiatives in other sectors of the economy. In turn, customers will benefit from this in terms of increased choice and personalized services. This ushers in a more transparent and customer-centric economy, in which data application immensely improves people's lives.

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🚨CBA
CommBank and Telstra Launch Enhanced Scam Protection for Landlines

Image : CBA newsroom

This strategic partnership between CommBank and Telstra further enhances the anti-scam technology of CommBank called Scam Indicator, extending landline coverage. Such a facility is of immense significance as it will identify suspicious calls in real-time to prevent consumers from financial losses on account of these scammers.

The Details:

  • The technology was developed in collaboration with Quantium Telstra to protect both Telstra and CommBank customers. Statistics from the National Anti-Scam Centre show that in 2023, people aged more than 65 years lost an enormous amount of money to scammers, indicating a disturbing increase in financial losses without an equivalent decrease in reported incidents.

  • Quantium Telstra CEO Sandy Cameron praised the Scam Indicator technology and the partnership with CommBank as great teamwork for consumer safety. The technology picks up potential scammers on calls. Consequently, it allows the Fraud team within CommBank to take quick actions such as putting holds, blocks, and rejections in place. It also triggers real-time alerts to impacted customers to protect those most vulnerable.

  • CommBank and Telstra use the Scam Indicator to prevent their mutual retail customers from losing substantial sums of money to scammers. This is a great measure whereby recovery would have been quite difficult without such high-technology intervention.

CommBank's General Manager of Group Fraud James Roberts explained that, in most cases, the scammers pretend to be someone to trick the targeted person into downloading software, which becomes their gateway to access the victim's computer remotely. The deployment of Scam Indicator technology by CommBank and Telstra in their combined retail customers has stopped millions from falling into scammers' hands.

It is part of the commitment by CommBank and Telstra to increase early detection and prevention of scams as they continue to collaborate with others in the ecosystem. Work undertaken with Telstra is an excellent example of the power of collaboration where data and technology are being mobilized for good with security and privacy front and center.

Examples include the significant reduction of successful scam attempts. This has proven that such a strategic partnership will work wonders. Until recently, the coverage increased by 25% upon the inclusion of landlines, adding thousands of protected landlines. It therefore provides an important extension in protecting more Australians from becoming victims of scams.

Why it matters:

CommBank and Telstra extend proactive scam combat via landlines, with the apparent implications for emphasis on utilising technologies and data better to protect consumers against financial loss and identity theft.

Bottom Line:

Company collaboration provides an advanced level of consumer protection and raises the bar on the abilities of scammers to dupe people, serving as a positive example in the fight against fraud and cybercrime.

🌏GLOBAL MARKETS

WORLD MAP

  1. Surge in M&A Activity in Southeast Asia's Financial Landscape. Middle Eastern and Japanese companies are increasingly looking to South-east Asia to deploy capital as they shift some investment away from Asia, according to Bank of America Corp.'s Singapore country head Martin Siah.

  2. Vietnamese Banks: Key Players in Southeast Asia's Economic Growth. South-east Asia has become a promising investment destination. Angsana Council, Bain & Company, and DBS's “Navigating High Winds: South-east Asia Outlook 2024-34” report predicts faster growth over the next decade, with GDP and FDI exceeding China's.

  3. Investment Banking Sees Growth in Asia Pacific Markets Ahead. Citigroup Inc's head of investment banking in Asia Pacific, Jan Metzger, expects deal making activity to rise in Asia Pacific over the coming quarters, with a surge in deal activities in India, Taiwan, and Japan, and a strong pipeline from China.



🈺 BUSINESS
SMEs Show Resilience with Plans for Growth Amid Economic Challenges

nab

Image: NAB newsroom

New insights from NAB reveal that six in 10 small and medium business owners are planning to invest to grow their business in the next 12 months, despite more challenging economic conditions.

The Details:

People-including hiring and training-new products, and technology are the top investment priorities for SMEs in Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania.

The research indicates a two-speed economy in Australia, where firms in technology and finance were making growth-oriented investments, while industries such as retail and construction showed repercussions of rising costs and squeezed consumer spending.

According to NAB Executive for Small Business Krissie Jones, the resilience was that of the small business owners who adapted and looked to invest and prepare for growth. Of the four industries, SMEs in finance and insurance had the most investment plans, followed by property services and business services. Excluding hospitality, investment intention was weakest in retail and construction-each facing supply chain disruptions, reduced foot traffic, and higher material costs over the past 12 months.

Zoom in:

Queensland small business owners are investing more in new equipment due to higher interest rates and inflation, especially those in the hospitality sector, as a savvy way to reduce operating costs. Indeed, equipment finance for small businesses is growing-11% in the June quarter to $X, according to NAB's reports.

The Data:

Insights drawn from responses from 700 Australian small business owners.

Why it matters:

Small businesses in Queensland are increasingly investing in new equipment that may give them boosts in productivity and competitiveness, offering potential local economic growth and setting the trend among businesses in the area. Operating expense reduction could help businesses develop better long-term sustainability and profitability.

🛸 ECONOMY
Australia’s CPI Sees 3.5% Rise in July 2024 Amid Economic Changes  

 

Image: ABS

The ABS report showed that there was a 3.5% increase in the Consumer Price Index from the previous month of June, which had recorded a 3.8% increase.

The major drivers:

Housing (+4.0%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.8%), alcohol and tobacco (+7.2%), transport (+3.4%).

Leigh Merrington, acting head of prices statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, said "from time to time, items that have volatile price change such as automotive fuel, fruits, vegetables, holiday travel generally impact on the rate of inflation in the Consumer Price Index."

Trending behind this are these reasons:

  • Housing climbed by 4.0% year on year in the 12 months to July, while rents surged 6.9% from 7.1% in June. Since August 2023, new home prices have gained about 5.0% annually as builders pass on higher labor and material costs to buyers.

  • A helping hand, in Housing in July, from June, was the 5.1% drop in electricity prices, primarily due to new rebates by the Commonwealth and many State governments.

  • Food and non-alcoholic beverages in terms of inflation were higher in July at 3.8%, led principally by fruits and vegetables, rising 7.5% in the 12 months to July, compared to June's 3.6%.

Why it matters:

Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation may add to the increased cost of living and erode the disposable incomes of consumer goods. Households with high energy expenses may also benefit from lower electricity prices due to rebates.

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