Business News

Mon Dec 21

Building a workplace relations system for the future

Written by Senator Cash

The Australian Government today delivered on an election commitment to have the independent Productivity Commission conduct an expert review of the workplace relations system to ensure the Fair Work laws worked for all Australians.

The Productivity Commission’s 12 month review involved extensive public consultation and received over 350 submissions from individual employees, employers, unions and social groups.

The Productivity Commission’s final report into the workplace relations system was tabled in Parliament today.

This is a report to the Government, not a report by the Government.
I am announcing a series of roundtable discussions with employees, employers, unions, social welfare groups and women’s groups to consult on the Productivity Commission’s final report.

The roundtable discussions will be held in early 2016 and will focus on the Government’s key priorities of:

·         promoting jobs and productivity

·         providing incentives to prevent long term unemployment, particularly for youth

·         ensuring a future-focussed workplace relations system, and

·         increasing women’s workforce participation.

The Productivity Commission found there were problems with the current system but has called for its repair rather than its replacement.

“I look forward to a mature and constructive discussion in the coming months over what the expert Productivity Commission has recommended and what we as a nation need to do to promote the best interests of all Australians for the future.”

“I am confident that the Australian people will see through the entirely predictable and misleading scare campaign by Labor and the unions – a campaign which has already begun in earnest.”

“As Minister for Employment and Minister for Women I am keen to engage with stakeholders on what can be done to sustainably reduce youth unemployment and to increase women’s workforce participation.”

“As the Government has said all along, we will carefully consider the final report and its recommendations, and if there is a good case for sensible and fair changes to the workplace relations framework, these will be clearly outlined and taken to the next election to seek a mandate from the Australian people”.

“I thank the Productivity Commission and its staff for their efforts and professionalism in producing this expert report to guide our national conversation on these important reforms.”

Further information on the Productivity Commission’s report can be found on its website: http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations#report.

Wed Dec 16

Strategic relationship agreement between MoneyPlace and Auswide Bank

Written by Melissa Mack

MoneyPlace, Australia’s second fully licenced peer-to-peer (P2P) lender and Auswide Bank have entered into a significant strategic relationship and equity deal.

The long term relationship, the first of its kind in Australia, includes a five year deal to fund up to $60 million to assist MoneyPlace to grow its consumer lending and for the bank to grow and diversify its financing activities nationally. Additionally Auswide Bank is taking a 20 per cent equity stake in MoneyPlace.

MoneyPlace launched in October after receiving its retail and wholesale Australian Financial Services licence and provides loans of $5000 to $35,000 through its peer-to-peer lending platform.

In its first month MoneyPlace has been inundated with loan inquiries from Australians looking for a better deal than what is on offer from traditional lenders. Today’s announcement ensures the company is well-funded to support this demand.

MoneyPlace CEO Stuart Stoyan said the relationship is a critical milestone for P2P lending globally and demonstrates how banks can work with P2P lenders to provide fairer, better rates for all customers.

“This is an exciting development for both companies and is an example of the type of collaboration we believe enables traditional lenders to tap into the innovative business models that alternative lenders like MoneyPlace bring to the market,” Stoyan said.

“In Auswide Bank we have a partner who is keen to take advantage of our low cost distribution channel to grow their consumer lending business and support their expansion into Melbourne and Sydney.

“Auswide Bank’s Managing Director, Martin Barrett and his team have put in considerable effort over the past couple of years to transform Auswide Bank, including a focus on digital, improving customer experience and accelerating growth in consumer finance.”

Martin Barrett said the bank is keen to take a position in the emerging P2P space to assist its growth in the consumer finance market and continue to improve its competitive positioning against the big 4 banks.

“We’ve been impressed with the platform, skills and capability of MoneyPlace and are excited by the opportunities that will flow from this relationship. By taking a 20 per cent equity stake, as well as using the MoneyPlace platform to invest funds for consumer finance, both organisations benefit and most importantly those customers requiring consumer finance benefit.

“We believe we are the first bank in Australia to take this dual equity and funding position. This is a wonderful opportunity for both organisations to grow and be at the forefront of the P2P opportunity in Australia.

“It represents the ability for us to accelerate our consumer finance ambitions nationally. Technology is changing the market and we, through the right innovative partners, are keen to take advantage of the opportunities for growth it presents.”

About MoneyPlace

Founded in 2013 by Stuart Stoyan, who is a former National Australia Bank executive, MoneyPlace is a full service peer-to-peer lender - an online marketplace that connects credit worthy borrowers with investors. It will offer loans to borrowers from $5000 to $35,000 with rates as low as 8.9%, using risk based pricing to give some of the fairest rates on the market. MoneyPlace will also be open to retail and wholesale investors, providing returns well above standard bank term deposits. Peer-to-peer lending is the practice of lending money to unrelated individuals, or "peers", without going through a traditional financial intermediary such as a bank or other traditional financial institution.

About Auswide Bank Ltd

Auswide Bank became Australia's tenth and Queensland's third Australian owned bank, listed and trading on the ASX, on April 1, 2015. The company had operated as a building society since 1966.

Auswide Bank has an Australian Credit Licence and an Australian Financial Services Licence issued by ASIC and is an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution prudentially supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Auswide Bank offers Australians an extensive range of personal and business banking products & services issued directly or in partnership with leading service providers via an omni-channel distribution strategy which includes branches, strategic relationships and online & digital channels.