Dale Webster
Does the Treasurer have a god complex or is he just trying to avoid the really hard reforms?
THE Senate inquiry into regional bank closures, which delivered its final report in May this year, was an important investigation by...
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Latest news and news features
Dale Webster
ANZ's bid to outsmart Suncorp contract reaches new low
ABOVE: From ANZ's response to a customer complaint over the Katoomba closure dated September 6, 2024. JUST when it seemed ANZ’s attempts...
Dale Webster
ANZ blows up 'legally binding' Suncorp deal over Katoomba branch
ABOVE: ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott after telling Economics Committee chairman Daniel Mulino for the second time that ANZ had...
Dale Webster
A win for the people as Australia's big banks finally go too far
IT is impossible to pinpoint an exact time when Australia’s big four banks turned on their regional customer base but May 24, 2024 will...
Dale Webster
When money changes hands, independence is out the window
THE Commonwealth Bank has marked the Sunshine Coast again being named the fastest growing regional migration destination in Australia by...
Dale Webster
Banks blow their chance to self-regulate by betraying trust
IT may have taken 20 years but a Federal Government inquiry has finally made good on a warning that if the 'big four' banks did not...
Dale Webster
Report signals party is over for Australia's big four banks
OFFICIAL recognition of banking as an essential service, the end of self-regulation of the banking industry and a pathway forward for the...
Dale Webster
Trust is something that is hard to win but easy to lose
COMMENT IF there was ever a time to take a close look at the relationship Australia’s major banks have with the word “trust” it is now....
Dale Webster
Third of NAB’s regional banks wiped in CEO’s reign of terror
After slashing NAB's regional branches by a third Ross McEwan is bailing before a senate inquiry into the closures reports. Miniscule...
Dale Webster
ANZ closes early for Christmas parties on busiest day of year
DURING the COVID crisis, Australia’s major banks lobbied hard to be counted as an essential service so they could remain open during...
Dale Webster
APRA bogged in a data mess of its own making
HEADLINES around Australia last week screamed out about bank closures. They were triggered by the release of the Australian Prudential...
Dale Webster
Banks' disconnect from regional Australia never more obvious
ABOVE: Anna Bligh talks banking taskforce in Canberra on Wednesday. Vision: APH THE chief executive of the Australian Banking Association...
Dale Webster
The dirty business of bank closures laid bare in WA
AT the end of two days listening to senate hearings investigating the impact of regional bank closures in Western Australia all I wanted...
Dale Webster
Make up your mind CBA, you can't have it both ways
THE Commonwealth Bank is at it again. While to be congratulated on its decision to put a three-year moratorium on regional branch...
Dale Webster
NAB caught out in data lie over branch closures
THE National Australia Bank (NAB) has been pulling a swifty on customers that have lost branches since September last year, using...
Dale Webster
Westpac a no-show after public humiliation at first senate hearing into bank closures
WESTPAC should have been fronting up at the second hearing of the Senate inquiry into regional bank closures in Cloncurry this morning...
Dale Webster
Commonwealth breaks pledge to pause regional bank closures
THE Commonwealth Bank is closing a branch in an area it has itself labelled one of Australia’s most popular destinations for regional...
Dale Webster
Senate inquiries are serious business and no place for spin
CONTEMPT of the Senate is a pretty easy thing to get your head around. Witnesses at hearings who give false or misleading evidence run...
Dale Webster
Bank body silent on disabled access breach of its code
TODAY we learned three things: the Banking Code of Practice isn’t worth the paper it is written on, the format for emailing Westpac...
Dale Webster
Open letter to Albo: Apparently you have the power to pause bank closures
Dear Mr Albanese, For a federal parliamentary petition to be approved, the rules state the request must be for something the House of...
Dale Webster
Westpac's deception by omission will not be forgotten
COMMENT I’M sure there will be beers all round tonight for the Westpac communications team who managed to flip the bird at six federal...
Dale Webster
With its back to the wall, Commonwealth Bank halts closures
JUNEE is one of the first towns to benefit from a parliamentary call for banks to halt all planned branch closures until a senate inquiry...
Dale Webster
Senate to hold first regional banking inquiry in 19 years
A MOTION to hold Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into regional bank closures in 19 years has passed through the Federal Senate...
Dale Webster
The good, the bad and the ugly of regional banking in 2022
AS the year draws to an end it is time to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly gifts given to regional Australians on the issue of...
Dale Webster
No regional Australians, things aren't quite as the banks say
CUSTOMERS of regional bank branches that are being closed have long had a sinking feeling they are being played. The letter arrives...
Dale Webster
Banking taskforce report opens the gates for mass closures
EXCLUSIVE THE number of banks closed in regional Australia in the six weeks since the Albanese Government quietly released the...
Dale Webster
Open letter to the Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus
Dear Mr Dreyfus, I write to highlight issues with the administration of the Financial Services (Collection of Data) Act 2001 and the...
Dale Webster
APRA's clean-up of bank data errors leaves statistics in chaos
From the recent Regional Banking Taskforce final report to media stories dating back 20 years, mistakes in the APRA figures they quoted...
Dale Webster
Regulator's inconsistent approach to data law puts it on shaky ground
APRA has contradicted the Treasurer and what its own chairman told Parliament as it scrambles to avoid making the 'big four' banks obey...
Dale Webster
Integrity on the line as bank regulator prepares to release annual data
THE release of the Australian banking regulator’s annual points of presence data this week will be an integrity test for both its...
Dale Webster
Regional banking taskforce's botch job is no laughing matter
REGIONAL Australians found themselves as the butt of a nasty joke at weekend, with both the new Federal Government and the Opposition...
Dale Webster
Bank petition chance to send a strong message to Canberra
REGIONAL Australians angry over continued bank closures have a chance to have their voice heard in federal parliament. The Regional’s...
Dale Webster
Treasurer's reply raises more questions on bank-stacked taskforce and APRA
An “open letter to the treasurer” published by The Regional last month drew attention to the plight of the South Australian town of...
Dale Webster
Time for a reset after union's bank closure media release sparks chaos
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE FEDERAL TREASURER, DR JIM CHALMERS Dear Dr Chalmers, We need to talk about Peterborough. It’s a town in South...
Dale Webster
Banking regulator fixes long-standing errors but data doesn't add up
NEWS and COMMENT A NUMBER of significant mistakes identified in Federal Government records set up to monitor banking service levels...
Dale Webster
NAB downgrades branches to cashless services
The definition of what makes a bank a bank has never been more important as NAB starts to quietly downgrade branches to cashless...
Dale Webster
Regional banking inquiry reopens political divide
BANK CLOSURES in regional Australia will be an election issue for the first time in nearly two decades thanks to the findings of a...
Dale Webster
What anyone making a submission to Australia’s latest regional banking inquiry should know first
ANALYSIS/OPINION If there is one certain outcome from the recently announced government inquiry into regional banking services it is that...
Dale Webster
'Big Four' banks casting a dangerous shadow
Are cashed-up and bankless towns just watching the money go round and round? CASTERTON, Grenfell, Home Hill, Nathalia and Toukley. Five...
Dale Webster
Why I spent a year counting every bank in regional Australia
BACKGROUND I have spent more than a year counting banks. It’s not an introduction to a story I could have foreseen myself writing 12...
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