The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Friday, March 23, 2012

RBA's Debelle won't comment on whether preserving pre-GFC profits is "appropriate"

Classic final para from Debelle--he knows that the crux of this whole issue is what are acceptable and reasonable RoEs:

Financial institutions have increased their lending rates in the face of the increase in costs to maintain their net interest margins within the range observed in recent years.[2] In turn, this has been with the aim of maintaining profitability. Without seeking to answer the question as to whether or not these movements in lending rates have been ‘appropriate’, the aim of my speech today, and the Bank's recently published analysis, has been to provide some facts to help in that discussion.
at 9:53 AM