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Australians living in metropolitan areas are nearing a record high for financial comfort, while those living regionally are approaching record lows, according to new research.

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A report released by ME Bank showed that the divide in financial comfort between regional and metropolitan households had now reached a record 13 per cent, almost twice the historical average of 7 per cent. 

In a conversation with nestegg, ME consulting economist Jeff Oughton explained why there’s a divide between metro and rural stress, albeit as the majority of debt holders are feeling the pinch. 

“When it comes to the level of savings, almost 50 per cent of people spend all their income each week, so they don’t have much savings on a weekly basis. They are not confident they could raise money for a financial emergency,” Mr Oughton said.

The economist highlighted the two natural disasters that have hit Australia – with the drought and bushfires forcing regional Australians to spend their savings.

“The sharp fall in financial comfort in regional areas is likely a result of ongoing drought and recent bushfire catastrophes, which have significantly lowered already low levels of financial comfort. ‘Comfort with cash savings’ fell 9 per cent, and the ‘ability to deal with financial emergencies’ fell 7 per cent, while long-term retirement comfort deteriorated, with ‘anticipated standard of living in retirement’ down 7 per cent.”

While regional Australians are suffering from financial stress, metropolitan Australians are able to take advantage of cheaper interest rates, allowing them to feel more financial comfort. 

“In contrast, the improvement in the financial comfort of metropolitan households reflected significant gains in all key drivers, with record-high levels of comfort approached in Sydney (up 1 per cent to 5.94), Melbourne (up 3 per cent to 5.91) and Brisbane (up 10 per cent to 5.82),” Mr Oughton explained.

The report also highlighted the impact of record-low interest rates with young singles and couples being relatively comfortable paying down debts.

Almost 60 per cent of property investors with debt are reportedly to benefit the most from record-low official interest rates – arguably reflecting the relatively high gearing of residential property investors, especially those with both home and investment mortgages.

For households who are reportedly “worse off” from the record-low official rate, 33 per cent own their home, 13 per cent are paying off a mortgage on their home and 22 per cent are renting. By life stage, about 40 per cent of “empty nesters” and “retirees” are reportedly “worse off”.

Over 30 per cent of households with lower income (less than $40,000 per annum) are reportedly “worse off”. 

In contrast, only 13 per cent with a mortgage on their home and/or investment property were reportedly “worse off”, with about the same proportion (14 per cent) of households with high incomes (over $100,000 per annum).

The notable falls in financial comfort across regional Australia dampened an overall rise in national financial comfort, with ME Bank’s overall Household Financial Comfort Index improving by 2 per cent to 5.59 out of 10 during the six months to December 2019. 

Across the 11 key drivers that make up the index, 10 of the drivers improved – with notable improvements in household “comfort with debt” and recent “changes to their financial situation”, the report concluded.

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Australians living in metropolitan areas are nearing a record high for financial comfort, while those living regionally are approaching record lows, according to new research.

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Following the drought and bushfires, the Australian agriculture sector is facing an “extremely challenging” 2020, with production likely to remain low and farmgate revenue likely to diminish, an industry report has found.

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According to Rabobank’s agribusiness outlook for 2020, the sector is facing a multi-year rebuild, meaning higher prices for agricultural commodities in the coming years.

The report’s lead author, Rabobank head of food and agribusiness research Tim Hunt, said “2019 was marred by drought, fire and flood”.  

“It was the driest year on record, compounding the drought already being experienced by the eastern states in the years prior,” Mr Hunt said.

“And while recent rainfall across drought-affected regions has brought some optimism, farmers will need continued rain to replenish soil moisture and break the drought.”

High agricultural commodity prices have gone some way to offsetting this pain, with firm global markets, a weak Australian dollar and reduced local supply contributing to a near-record year for farmgate prices.

“For the animal protein sector, Chinese imports will remain at elevated levels in the wake of China’s culling of livestock in response to African swine fever, with the rebuilding of their pig population to take several years,” Mr Hunt said, “while global markets for wool and dairy remain firm and the local market basis (wheat price) will be sustained by constrained domestic grain production.”

The report noted that even with higher prices, lower volumes produced will mean the agriculture sector will suffer.

“Physical constraints will also impede recovery. The beef herd and sheep flock will take years to rebuild from current lows, while refilling key storages in the southern Murray Darling Basin will likely take several favourable seasons,” Mr Hunt continued.

Financial constraints will also have an impact, the report said, with farmers likely to want to rebuild equity before investing to expand production once better seasonal conditions return.

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Following the drought and bushfires, the Australian agriculture sector is facing an “extremely challenging” 2020, with production likely to remain low and farmgate revenue likely to diminish, an industry report has found.

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Klarna Australia has officially launched today, bringing one of the world’s biggest digital payment providers to our shores.

Write comment (0 Comments) " ["fulltext"]=> string(2359) "

With more than 85 million customers already using the service around the world, the entrance of the payment service to the Australian buy now, pay later market was announced through several channels, including an ASX announcement from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has said its customers “will be able to benefit immediately from using one of the world’s largest and most innovative buy now, pay later online shopping services”, but non-CBA consumers will also be able to utilise the payment method.

The bank initially invested $US100 million into Klarna, but it has since invested a further $US200 million in Klarna Group at the same valuation.

The aim of this, according to CBA, is to “increase strategic alignment, bring additional rights and gain exposure to Klarna’s international growth”.

The $US300 million total investment brings CBA’s shareholding of the international fintech group to 5.5 per cent from an initial 1.8 per cent stake.

CEO of CBA Matt Comyn has said that the bank’s partnership with Klarna “will further enhance the customer experience in our leading banking app and address the rapidly growing demand among consumers for new payment options”.

“In particular, it allows us to build on our leading technology to deliver the very best payment services for our customers and merchants in Australia, on platforms which are safe, secure and easy to use,” he added.

“By partnering with Klarna, we are bringing together our market-leading digital technology, merchant relationships and strong customer network with Klarna’s innovative payments technology and integrated shopping experience for the benefit of CBA customers and many more Australian consumers.”

The CBA statement indicated that each party will jointly fund and have 50:50 ownership rights to Klarna’s Australian and New Zealand business.

CBA is also retaining a right to partner with Klarna in Indonesia.

Calling it an exciting day for Klarna, CBA and Australia as a whole, Klarna Group’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, said: “We have already developed a strong working relationship with CBA, and we look forward to providing even more opportunities together for our customers in the coming months and years.”

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Klarna Australia has officially launched today, bringing one of the world’s biggest digital payment providers to our shores.

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The buy now, pay later (BNPL) service providers including Afterpay and Zip have announced safeguards for vulnerable customers who are a credit risk to themselves.

Write comment (0 Comments) " ["fulltext"]=> string(2488) "

In a code released, BNPL services will commit to capping late fees, screening the ability of customers to repay and never initiating bankruptcy procedures.

The announcement of a new code of conduct follows months of scrutiny from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and a Senate inquiry. 

BNPL providers are not regulated like other short-term lenders because the service is not classified as a credit. The industry argues this is appropriate as they are a “modern lay-by” service.

AFIA and its BNPL members – Afterpay, Brighte, flexigroup, Latitude, OpenPay, Payright and Zip Co, which cover 95 per cent of the market – are responding to the Senate Economics Reference Committee which recommended developing a code of practice.

AFIA CEO Diane Tate commented: “The BNPL Code goes above and beyond the law by ensuring customers have strong safeguards in place that help them better understand the product and their rights. It also sets standards around helping those customers that experience financial difficulties.”

The new code is designed to protect an estimated 5.8 million users, or 30 per cent of Australian adults, who according to the industry are using the service as a way to manage their finances.

A Code Compliance Committee (CCC), independent of AFIA and the BNPL providers, comprising industry and consumer representatives will be charged with monitoring, policing and dealing with potential non-compliance.

“The BNPL Code will be subject to a thorough public consultation process in early 2020, aiming for implementation by 1 July 2020. This is a world-first industry code of practice, so we have a tremendous opportunity, and responsibility, to get this right,” Ms Tate said.

“Importantly, the BNPL Code also means customers of BNPL services, that are members of AFIA, have access to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), the independent external dispute resolution scheme, if they have a compliant they can’t resolve directly with the BNPL provider.”

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The buy now, pay later (BNPL) service providers including Afterpay and Zip have announced safeguards for vulnerable customers who are a credit risk to themselves.

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Retailers are trying to save consumers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in hidden “tap and go” fees for card transactions, according to a recent submission.

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On top of the price, consumers or merchants are unwittingly paying another fee due to their transaction going through expensive international payment networks.

“The fee gouging is harmful to businesses, and the banks should be doing much more to educate their customers, give them options and save money for everyone,” Council of Small Business Organisation Australia (COSBOA) CEO Peter Strong said. 

While the retailers pay these fees up-front, the consumers are often the ones left with the bill as they either cop a surcharge at the point of payment or have higher retail prices with the merchant passing on costs.

In the countdown to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Review of Retail Payments Regulation, four of Australia’s retail associations are pushing for lower fees through a system called least cost routing (LCR).

Least cost routing, or “tap and save” as its also referred to, is where merchants choose to route a debit card transaction to the lowest-cost network for that transaction.

Sometimes this might be the international networks, but more often it will be EFTPOS, the local Australian network, the submission noted.

The CEO of the Australian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA), Mark McKenzie, said banks needed to be more transparent with their fee structures. 

“Payments and fees are a complicated business, and many smaller retailers struggle to understand the true nature of the costs they’re expected to pay,” Mr McKenzie said.

In a recently released issues paper regarding its Review of Retail Payments Regulation, the Reserve Bank of Australia said: “For most merchants, payments by EFTPOS can be significantly cheaper for them to accept than payments via the international schemes.”

It also stated: “None of the major banks have taken advantage of the ability to implement LCR ‘in the background’ as a way to offer improved pricing for smaller and medium-sized merchants on simple merchant plans.”

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Retailers are trying to save consumers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in hidden “tap and go” fees for card transactions, according to a recent submission.

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Australian chief executives were pessimistic about business conditions, even before this summer’s devastating bushfire season, suggests an industry survey.

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According to results from the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), fewer CEOs expect an improvement in their own turnover, profit margins and productivity in 2020 than for any year since 2015.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said: “While Ai Group’s latest survey reaffirms an immediate outlook for the economy that is flat at best, we can secure our future economic prosperity with timely and multifaceted action to address substantial headwinds.

“It’s a challenge for governments, for businesses and for the broader community, but it’s one we should rise to with confidence that we will emerge stronger.”

The industry is calling for measures to stimulate the economy and lift productivity as business leaders struggle with global uncertainty as well as local policies.

“Another layer of concern arises from the fragile state of domestic demand in Australia, with both household and business spending indicative of the slow growth of domestic incomes (outside of the mining sector) and the pervasive mood of caution in both the business and household sectors,” Mr Willox said.

The results also show a smaller number of businesses are planning to boost spending on capital investment as well as research and development compared with previous years.

Further, the Australian fires are only weakening an already sombre business outlook. 

“Australia’s extraordinary bushfires have further weakened the outlook for 2020. Considerable resources and effort will now need to be directed to recovering lost ground,” Mr Willox said.

Business leaders’ low expectations match the RBA’s analysis which cautions Australia’s real GDP growth to remain well below 3 per cent until the end of 2020 (and rising to just 3.1 per cent in 2021), with no discernible improvement in consumer and wage inflation from their current weak (below-target) rates of around 1.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

Australian growth forecasts from international agencies and private-sector economists are generally even less optimistic.

Read more on Australian economy here.

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Australian chief executives were pessimistic about business conditions, even before this summer’s devastating bushfire season, suggests an industry survey.

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