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."

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Australia's biggest bank, CBA, cuts by 40bps--as predicted

No surprise there. What was more surprising was NAB's decision to only pass on 32. It will be interesting to see what ANZ and Westpac do. This is what happens when the central bank sits back and unrelentingly defends bank profits for five years: it loses control over its ability to exercise moral suasion. It's happily passed up that opportunity by vigorously rationalising the major banks' current NIMs and therefore their current RoEs. Smart move...
at 11:38 AM