Category: Finance
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Tech Giant IBM Needs Giant Turn Around
This month’s quarterly financial results reveal the slow decline of IBM under current CEO Ginni Rometti. What was once one of America’s leading companies and most powerful corporations, is now seeing a flatlining failed attempt to increase revenue since peaking in 2011 at £107bn. The good news is that revenues grew for the second quarter…
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Loan options diversify for small businesses
Getting a loan for a small business has been difficult in recent years since the GFC. However, the options for business loans, especially for small businesses, have diversified. With increased loan options, an awareness of strategies to use with banks, and access to investors, your chance of getting a loan to start, grow, or even…
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Reserve Bank could raise interest eight times in two years
A former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia has warned that interest rates could be raised up to eight times in the next two years, pushing mortgage costs through the roof and threatening the regained stability of Australia’s economy. John Edwards made the claim in a paper written for the Lowy Institute, an…
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Senate committee says Centrelink was ‘set up to fail’
Centrelink’s controversial automated debt recovery service has fundamental flaws in its infrastructure and should be suspended until they have been addressed, according to a Senate committee dominated by the Labor and Greens parties. The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs has claimed that the system has had a “profoundly negative impact on the lives of…
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Treasurer aims to protect Australians from excessive debt
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has announced his intention to change the way credit cards work in order to stop Australians running up excessive debt. In a statement, Mr Morrison announced a raft of changes that would protect Australians from excessive debt, such as greater assessment of repayment ability for card applicants, a ban on unsolicited credit limits increases,…
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Channel Ten enters voluntary administration
Australian free-to-air network Ten has gone into voluntary administration. The decision comes after its main financial supporters (James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch, and Bruce Gordon) refused to provide a $250 million loan to replace the $200 million overdraft which the network owes to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The three billionaires backed out due to the…
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Cyclone Debbie disruption causes trade surplus fall
The Australian trade surplus for April has fallen to just $555 million following a steep drop in coal export levels as a result of disruption caused by Cyclone Debbie. From a $3.1 billion surplus being recorded for the month of March 2017, April was expected to see a decline in surplus to around $2 billion,…
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Financial Review names record-breaking richest Australians in 2017
The Australian Financial Review has released its record-breaking Rich List for 2017, naming the nation’s most wealthy people. The combined wealth of the people featured on the Rich List is a staggering $233.1 billion, which is a marked increase on last year’s total of $197.3 billion. This year is the first time in the history of…
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Australian economy a “walking dead of debt”
Australia’s economy is on a crash course with a major downturn in fortunes due to mounting unsupported debt. Professor Steve Keen has branded the country a “walking dead of debt” as a result of government interventions to artificially prop up the housing market and mounting household debt. Professor Keen’s remarks come as tensions continue to rise…
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ATO official faces charges over $165 million fraud case
A senior official at the Australian Tax Office (ATO) is facing charges in relation to a major fraud investigation involving his son, in which it is alleged that $165 million was stolen from the Commonwealth. Deputy Tax Commissioner Michael Cranston was issued with a court summons following the arrest of his son, Adam Cranston, in Sydney yesterday.…