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Key to the ACCC nod, the watchdog said on Thursday, was that “Suncorp, Allianz, QBE, and newer entrants like Youi would continue to compete” with IAG.

Also relevant was the fact that RACQ has fallen away from its competition since 2019.

(That is, of course, one of the reasons it said yes to the $855M buy-up.)

The RACQ will still be sticking around, though, with IAG Managing Director Nick Hawkins confirming it will “maintain brand and customer relationships.”

“This is a great first step in the regulatory process and recognises the benefits that would come from the two organisations working together as part of a 25-year strategic partnership agreement,” RACQ CEO David Carter said.

“We are just as confident today as we were when we first announced the partnership in the benefits that will come from our two organisations working together.”

The 25-year strategic partnership is exclusive, HotCopper understands, and will soon see IAG acquire 90% of RACQ’s current insurance underwriting business — focused entirely in Queensland for the time being.

IAG will be able to pick up the last 10% once the deal has been live for two years. At this stage, that’s looking like it will be sometime around mid-2027 at the earliest.

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To that end, IAG will make an up-front payment of $333 million to enter the distribution agreement. The buyer will also make a payment of shares equivalent to the expected net tangible asset value at the time of completion.

IAG has opened Thursday’s early morning trade up 2.1% at $8.70/sh.

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The proposed takeover had been a subject of interest through 2025, at least for those who find the ASX interesting. Earlier this year Insignia had to put a pin in rumours that Brookfield had joined the likes of Bain Capital Private Equity in looking to snatch it up.

Less than a month later, those rumours would turn out to be true.

In the most recent form of the proposed takeover, Bain would’ve joined up with CC Capital Partners.

But now – one day ahead of the exclusivity period’s expiry – Bain has confirmed to the market that, well, it just doesn’t really want Insignia Financial anymore.

The rationale for why was only one sentence long:

“Bain has informed Insignia Financial that it will be unable to proceed at this time with making a binding offer for the company, due to the macro uncertainty caused by the volatility in global capital markets,” Insignia wrote on Wednesday.

This hasn’t been enough to scare off CC Capital Partners, who are now working towards a bid for IFL.

“Insignia Financial remains in discussions with CC Capital, which has advised that it continues to actively work towards making a binding bid for the company over the coming weeks. There is no certainty that the ongoing discussions will result in any transaction being put to Insignia,” the company wrote.

While that might not be the worst case scenario, clearly, the market wasn’t overly persuaded into staying invested. Bain Capital, it appears, may be more interested in trying to get another Virgin IPO off the ground.

Since Bain first showed interest in Insignia around mid-December of 2024, when the shares traded at $3.06/sh, IFL has lost a lot of that premium it commanded when shares hit $4.65/sh.

IFL last traded at $3.45/sh.

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Also higher were operating income – up 1%, and underpinned by growth in lending volume and higher trading income – and operating performance, which was 1% higher than the first half quarterly average, and 6% higher the prior comparative quarter.

CBA was also buoyed by stronger data for business loans, which rose 9.1% to $3.7 billion from the previous quarter.

But the bank also underscored a 1% rise in operating expenses during the period, as a result of higher spending on technology and frontline staff, and partly offset by two less days in the quarter and the benefit of ongoing productivity initiatives.

CEO Matt Comyn said the bank was navigating successfully through a period which he acknowledged was ‘challenging’ for many Australian households and businesses as a result of cost-of-living pressures.

“Our focus on supporting our customers, investing in our franchise to deliver superior customer experiences and executing our strategy with consistency and discipline has delivered solid results for our shareholders,” he said.

“Our balance sheet settings remain strong. We have maintained strong capital and provisioning levels, and have successfully completed our FY25 funding task during the March quarter.

“Our deliberate and long-term conservative approach to key balance sheet settings enables us to support our customers, the economy and our shareholders through a range of macroeconomic scenarios.”

CBA shares have been $166.14.

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The impact of Trump’s announcement – made on Truth Social on Sunday – could be observed in general terms, with Health Care being the worst performing sector on the ASX, down 1.17% on a mixed trading day.

Unsurprisingly, a cluster of companies followed the trend, with Neuren Pharmaceuticals, Telix Pharmaceuticals and Clarity Pharmaceuticals being noted as some of the bourse’s worst-performing stocks early on in the session, dropping 8.05%, 8.04% and 7.20% respectively by 14:25 AEST.

In his social media post, Trump said he wanted to bring prescription drug prices in the United States into line with those in other high-income countries, and promised he would sign an executive order to that effect on Monday.

Although he did not provide much detail about how the pricing would be shifted, the President said his policy would drive towards a ‘most favored nation’ framework, with prices to drop by between 30% and 80%.

“They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!” he said.

“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.”

As it is now, customers in the US pay the highest prices in the world for many prescription drugs.

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The financial services provider reported a net profit of A$3.715 billion for the year ended 31 March (FY25), this being a 5% increase from the prior comparable period (FY24).

Macquarie told investors that its profit performance in the second half of FY25 had also been stronger, coming in at $2.10 billion: a rise of 30% compared to the first half of FY25.

The business was also bolstered by a rise of 2% in net operating income for FY25, which was $17.208 billion, while operating expenses were also strong, at $12,140 billion: close to what had been reported for the prior reporting period.

Its final ordinary dividend was reported as $3.90 per share – of which 35% was franked – with the ordinary dividend for FY25 being $6.50 per share (also 35% franked), this representing a 2H25 payout ratio of 71% and FY25 payout ratio of 67%.

Also in FY25, Macquarie reported a net operating income of $A17.208 billion: this being up 2% per cent on FY24, while operating expenses of $A12.140 billion were close to the numbers for FY24. International income accounted for 66 per cent of Macquarie’s total income.

Managing director and CEO Shemara Wikramanayake said these figures showed the company in a strong position despite external headwinds.

“Against a backdrop of ongoing market and economic uncertainty, Macquarie’s client franchises remained resilient over the past year, delivering new business origination and underlying income growth, contributing to our history of unbroken profitability,” she said.

Macquarie Group has been trading at $195.89.

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When it comes to the big 4 banks, the NIM is what analysts are keen to keep an eye on; a decline of -2bps effectively represents a flattish read – in line with cash profits of A$3.5B.

That read too, was flat vs 1HFY24. Ongoing competition among the banks for mortgage market share has led to a partial headache for the sector, and when it comes to ANZ, the bank hasn’t been a beneficiary of the same ‘safe haven’ thinking responsible for CBA’s recent outperformance.

What does that tell us? When it comes to fundamentals, ANZ is in the same place it was this time last year. For some that won’t be an issue, but more ambitious traders may rotate out of the stock.

Still, as a big 4 bank, its share price will be fine.

ANZ’s share price has already shaken off the impact of the April 2 market shock that spread around the world. (Unsurprising, then, the bank pointed to heightened geopolitical volatility in its report.)

Also worth noting is the company’s own media relations chief interviewed the CEO and CFO, transcripts of which were part of ANZ’s newsflow bundle on Thursday. That’s definitely a kind of analyst call, I suppose.

ANZ last traded at $29.98/sh.

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However, the company has otherwise told the market that it expects to be relatively insulated from international volatility given that Medibank’s operations and assets are largely domestic.

If the market didn’t believe the news, that wasn’t obvious – the stock was up 0.5% at lunchtime, suggesting at least some investors may have been swayed by the stock’s capacity to become a defensive play.

Helping that perception is that Medibank also reminded investors it will benefit from RBA rate cuts, with the next meeting carrying a nearly 100% chance of a cut. Domestic core inflation now sits below 3%.

“Medibank’s investment portfolio is also exposed to the RBA cash rate, where a 25bps movement has an approximate $7 million annual impact to investment income,” MPL wrote.

Any further reductions in the RBA cash rate are expected to provide some cost-of-living relief to Australians supporting healthcare affordability, customer growth and health industry resilience.

Medibank has been on a tear since the Federal government approved premium increases back in late February – something the company itself was keen to advertise.

To date, 1Y returns are up +34.5%.

MPL last traded at $4.70.

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Smartpay had entered an ‘exclusivity arrangement’ with another party which made a cash offer of NZ$1.20 per share, trumping Tyro’s NZ$1 a share offer – which was to be mostly scrip.

The Other ‘unnamed’ Party has until June 9 to conduct due diligence and exclusively consider its offer. However from late May until that date, Smartpay can engage with anyone putting a ‘superior’ deal forward.

Back in March, Smartpay revealed it had two proposals – one from Tyro and the other from an ‘international strategic’.

This morning Tyro announced: “Tyro confirms it is no longer participating in an acquisition process with Smartpay.”

“Tyro submitted a proposal and was conducting due diligence as part of a competitive process.

“Tyro was informed of Smartpay’s decision to enter an exclusivity arrangement with anotherparty for a cash offer of NZ$1.20 per share on Friday 2 May.

“This was prior to conclusion of the agreed due diligence process and receipt of an update to Tyro’s cash and scrip synergistic merger proposal.”

Tyro last traded at 77.5 cents and has a $409 million market cap; Smartpay last traded at 76c and has a $183 million market cap.

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Ms McCann’s appointment is an internal one, as she is currently Group Executive, Customer & Corporate Services, and will take on the leadership mantle of the Consumer division from 12 May 2025.

Westpac CEO Anthony Miller said this was a wise appointment, given Ms McCann’s achievements thus far.

“Carolyn is an outstanding executive who has overhauled the operations of thebank in her current role,” he said.

“Under Carolyn’s leadership, our broker time to decision has more than halved, scam losses have been reduced by 40% and our customer complaints process has been dramatically simplified.

“Carolyn is a customer-focused leader who empowers her people to act. She will bring this focus to the Consumer division while we continue the search for a permanent chief executive.”

While Ms McCann is acting in this role, Carolyn Hoy – who is current General Manager, Property, Procurement and Resilience – will take on an acting role as Group Executive, Customer & Corporate Services.

This augments Ms Hoy’s 20-year experience with Westpac, in roles across Legal, Compliance and Risk.

Westpac shares have been trading at $32.30.

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The deal with US decking company Azek, has seen a swift and heated backlash from major investors, including AustralianSuper and UniSuper, after James Hardie issued 35% more shares and raised the prospect of migrating its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange.

The crisis was exacerbated amid a weakened US housing market, elevating investor concerns about the timing and extraordinary price which was set at a 37% premium to Azek’s share price.

Analysts and fund managers lashed James Hardie for paying too much and ratcheting up its exposure to excessive financial risk amid a slowing US economy.

The ASX says its decision aligned wth established legal frameworks, aimed at reducing deal costs and execution risks.

But amid escalating pressure from investors like Aware Super, HESTA, and Fidelity Australia, ASX CEO Helen Lofthouse says the exchange would review the appropriateness of such waivers.

The review will update a 2017 analysis of shareholder approval thresholds for mergers and acquisitions, with further consultation planned.

Notwithstanding the review, James Hardie’s merger will close under existing waivers.

Investors reactions highlight their view that the acquisition unnecessarily exposes shareholders to significant cyclical risks, with US homebuilders reporting declining demand and rising construction costs.

Fund managers underscored James Hardie may be subject to additional earnings downgrades and potential capital raisings in the event the US housing market deteriorates.

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On Monday, Star entered a binding term sheet with Bally’s; the investment takes the form of a multi-tranche convertible note and subordinated debt interest.

Bally’s will provide Star with $100 million on or before Wednesday, April 9, then follow this up with an additional $200M pending a shareholder vote to approve the transaction and regulatory approvals; alternatively, the second tranche will be paid in two parts: $100M to be paid to Star after shareholders have approved, and another $100M after regulatory approvals being received.

In terms of the latter, the million-dollar payment would be received no later than October 7, should regulatory approvals be outstanding.

Also in the works is a discussion with Investment Holdings Pty Ltd – Star’s biggest shareholder, which is controlled by the Mathieson family – to consider whether it could provide up to $100M of the investment.

Any decision on that front would then reduce Bally’s contribution to $200M.

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Star’s board unanimously recommended support for the Bally buy among shareholders, with a meeting to be held in late June to vote for this.

Star shares last traded at 11 cents before halting some weeks ago.

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The bank entered a court-enforceable undertaking with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) following conversations with the former about non-financial risk management practices and risk culture.

The EU is also connected to the appearance of issues in ANZ’s Global Markets Business, which had promoted the regulator to express concern about an uplift in the bank’s non-financial risk work program.

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Chairman Paul O’Sullivan said the bank was working towards improving its practices around non-financial risk, but had more to do. “We are disappointed that we have not met APRA’s expectations about how the bank manages non-financial risk and its non-financial risk culture,” he said.

“A strong non-financial risk regime is critical to protecting our bank and our customers.”

ANZ has been trading at $29.66.

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The timing is worth considering. Trump’s tariffs are about a day away (accounting for the U.S. time difference).

These are the much-touted reciprocal tariffs kicking in on April 2.

While there’s been seas of news coverage about those tariffs, nobody really knows yet what the hell they will look like; if they’ll stick, and whether or not Trump will stop posting on Truth Social long enough to double-check he isn’t tanking the economy.

It does feel as if he’s handed over the reigns to his team this second time around, especially Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick – who seems quite good at getting a tune out of Trump. But let’s get back to Australia.

Down Under, we’re still dealing with a cost of living crisis as most recently evidenced by the supermarket price gouging inquiry.

Mortgageholders are likely unsurprised by today’s news, but still a little miffed.

On the whole, though, the market has stopped reacting to interest rate decisions the last few times around (particularly more recently, given the obvious macro turbulence.)

I imagine that will eventually be the case for tariff headlines, too. Maybe a better word is “hope.”

Anyway, let’s get to the bit that matters – when will the RBA next cut rates? Well, it’s too hard to tell right now. Some analysts in the U.S. are predicting the Fed won’t make any cuts this year, but that’s perhaps overly pessimistic. However, it does look like the U.S. Gov’t has stopped caring about the economy.

“It’s the economy, stupid,” could take on a new meaning in 2025.

Why am I talking about America again? Because the whole world, for now at least, still looks to the leading global economy for guidance, even if it’s often a game of reverse-engineering.

And a cautious Fed is likely to inform the RBA, whether they want to admit it or not.

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The Big 4 banks all disagree. NAB is the most optimistic – it saw a cut in April – while ANZ says August, Commonwealth says May, and Westpac is perhaps taking the wise approach of calling a “June quarter” cut.

Clearly, they don’t want to be embarrassed here.

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Or, in other words: Canberra is paying ANZ to stay in the region for the next ten years.

In the background, here, is the fact ANZ CEO Shayne Elliot noted halfway through last year the company’s Pacific region operations had become unprofitable.

Western banks have been leaving the region in recent years – driven by the same economics that make banks abandon country towns – but Canberra’s willingness to provide up to $2B to ANZ over ten years is part of a larger strategy.

And that strategy, between the written lines, is obvious: Soft geopolitical power.

In recent years, Australia’s cabinet representatives have been openly discussing the need to ensure Australian relationships with our Pacific counterparts remain strong to combat what is perceived as growing Chinese influence in the region.

(In fact, this has been of concern since 2015, when the Australian Defence Department released a paper on the issue. Since then, not much has changed.)

But last year, not long after Elliot stated that the Pacific region was unprofitable, concerns have been rising surrounding Chinese banks’ proliferation in the Pacific region.

It’s not hard to see why this could make Canberra twitchy. Banks are the linchpin of any economy – and who you bank with, over time, can easily create relationships.

To put it simply: Australia’s worried if the only ATM on Pacific Islands is branded HSBC and the like, that will eventually build loyalty to Chinese brands instead of Australia’s.

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Another way of putting it is that banks, after all, wield great power over both business and governmental spheres of life.

That the $2B deal confirmed on Friday, March 14, is part of a soft power strategy is evidenced by the fact that part of the deal is to have ANZ continue offering financial literacy services in the region.

“As part of NAZ’s commitment to improving the financial wellbeing of Pacific people and communities, ANZ will continue to promote and encourage financial literacy through its MoneyMinded program,” the bank wrote on Friday.

As for ANZ management, they’re clearly just happy to get something of a bailout, letting them avoid the fallout of any Pacific region exit. For at least ten years. Elliot noted on Friday, however, the guarantee is “not material.”

Without doubt, backroom negotiations were at play on this one.

ANZ last traded at $28.29.sh.

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Findi has flagged an announcement to be made by Tuesday on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upcoming interchange rate changes. Judging by the language of the halt statement, Findi are likely to benefit.

“The trading halt is requested pending an announcement by the Company to the market in relation to the positive impact of the Reserve Bank Of India’s increase in interchange rates,” the company disclosed in line with ASX rules.

In other words: The fee for using an ATM in India is set to rise from Rs17 to Rs19.

There’s a “free five transactions” rule that exists in India’s cash withdrawal landscape and beyond that the maximum fee a bank can charge is being pushed up two pips, though whether it charges this is up to the bank’s discretion.

Findi, it appears, are bullish on meeting that maximum.

Reports in February from India’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) ultimately foreshadowed this upcoming rule change.

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It’s more good news for Findi, a stock which has had a pretty good run since 2022 when shares were worth around 60c in January of that year.

Today they’re worth $4.56/sh, and notched over $7/ea last November.

FND last traded at $4.56.

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At that stage, why bother paying the hefty fees associated with being listed on the ASX?

If shareholders or the market agreed, that wasn’t particularly obvious. Shares actually increased 4% on Friday after Auctus announced it is ditching the ASX in May this year. The ASX has already ticked off on the move.

So, perhaps a strange shareholder reaction, though, they’ve got until May to play around with the stock. Except nobody is really playing around with it – that’s the problem.

“Notwithstanding the Company’s ASX listing, AVC has regularly struggled to attract liquidity on the ASX,” Auctus wrote.

“AVC’s trading range data indicates AVC shares are thinly traded on the ASX… the limited liquidity means limited trading can have a disproportionate impact on share price.”

The company also noted it has a large base of retail shareholders with small amounts of shares – god forbid.

But the company has a point. Auctus expects to save $350,000 a year by delisting off the ASX. Just being on the share market at all isn’t exactly cheap.

“The board believes that the ongoing administrative, compliance and direct costs associated with the company’s ASX listing are disproportionate to the benefits of remaining listed,” the company added.

AVC last traded at 64cps.

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However, the company told investors the latter reading – which included a drop of 26.7% – was not outside market expectations, and reflected NIB’s fall in New Zealand profit due to slow economic growth and high claims inflation which had been seen throughout the industry during the period.

The difference between UOP in HY24 and HY25 needed to be understood in terms of the particularly higher margins seen during the former.

NIB’s total group revenue increased by 7.7%, to $1.8 billion (from $1.7B in 1H24); the company will pay an interim fully franked dividend of 13 cents per share.

“Our Australian Residents Health Insurance (arhi) margins were well above target in 1H24 at 9.7% and have now returned to more sustainable levels in our long-term target range of 6-7%,” Group managing director and CEO Ed Close said, adding he believes the figures showed resilience for the insurer.

“arhi had record, first-half sales growth in 1H25. We are growing our health insurance membership at a time when people are focused on finding value.

“We are ambitious about delivering value for members. We have expanded our Australia-wide medical services ‘Known Gap,’ and our ‘No Gap’ dental network, and continue to invest in our payer-to-partner strategy, automation and digital health experiences.”

NIB shares have been trading at $5.94.

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Shares, in turn, were down -17.8% to ~$11.00/sh at lunchtime on Monday Sydney time.

Higher funding growth and suppressed margins were pointed to by Bendigo CEO Richard Fennell, who really wanted more to talk about Bendigo’s strengths – and was far more interested in talking about earnings, not profits.

But the market didn’t listen; it had its eyes on the profits, which have sunk to $216M.

A 30cps dividend wasn’t enough to stop a shock drop either, despite that same strategy apparently helping BlueScope on Monday. Still, two different beasts.

Not helping Bendigo either was a climb in OpEx of +5% as “technology inflationary pressures” hit the company, as well as increased investment. Through the half, CET1 remains just shy of 11.2%.

And margins falling -6bps clearly isn’t what bank investors want to see, either. Higher cost deposits were partially blamed for that outcome.

Bendigo isn’t necessarily unfamiliar with volatility when it comes to earnings reports – that’s by way of it being a regional bank outside the Big 4 – but Monday’s sell-off is a clear indicator of market caution.

(Hark your mind back to the U.S.’s 2023 regional banking crisis for an idea of the levels of risk tolerance – it’s the same psychology Down Under.)

As for outlook, Bendigo “[expects] residential arrears to gradually increase and bad and doubtful debts to move toward longer-term averages,” Bendigo’s CEO buried at the end of a statement on Monday.

While the bank expects a better economic environment moving forward, it brought up the prospect of rate cuts, which sounds a lot like Bendigo is just hoping things get better, like pretty much everybody else.

BEN last traded at $11.04.

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Through its subsidiary in India, Transaction Solutions International (India) Pvt Ltd, Findi has secured the ATM deal, which it expects to deliver revenue of $250-$270 million and EBITDA of $125 to $135 million over 10 years (seven plus three years).

The agreement bumps up its ATMs in India by 54% – adding to the 4,219 ATMs awarded in October 2023.

The roll-out of the additional ATMs will start in October and take about five months.

Findi Executive Chairman Mr Nicholas Smedley said the growth was four times faster than that of their closest competitor.

“The upgrade of this contract is the direct result of Findi’s operational excellence and our speed of deployment of new ATMs – more than four times faster than our closest competitor,” Mr Smedley explained.

“Our ability to seamlessly and consistently deliver on significant ATM contracts has seen Findi awarded approximately 3,831 ATMs from new contracts and extensions in the 2025 year to date, valued at approximately $360-392 million total contract value.

“Our proven track record of contract execution reinforces our market position as the provider of choice with India’s major banks and positions us well for future opportunities.”

And Findi’s appointed Rothschild & Co for its planned Indian IPO in 2026.

“The appointment of leading global investment bank Rothschild is a key milestone for our aspiration of delivering a billion-dollar listing as we continue to drive financialinclusion for the unbanked across India,” Smedley said.

However, FY25 revenue guidance has been revised down to $68 million to $70 million from previous guidance of $80-$90 million. FY25 EBITDA guidance of $30-$32 million is at the lower end, of the previously stated guidance range of $30-$35 million.

Mr Smedley said the revised guidance was impacted by the deferred commencement of White Label ATM Licence (WLA) revenue.

That delays the receipt of about $15 million in revenue.

“While we were on track to deliver against our previous guidance, the delayed completion of the Indicash acquisition will now impact FY25 revenue performance,” Smedley said.

“Nonetheless, we remain on track for solid EBITDA performance for FY25, driven by the strong operational and strategic momentum in our existing ATM business and our growing FindiPay offering, together with our stringent approach to cost control.

“We are anticipating strong contributions from organic growth and acquisitions as we work towards the IPO of Findi India in 2026.”

Findi last traded at $4.56 and has a market cap of nearly $225 million.

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The company today reported on a year with “increased innovation,” including the introduction of digital advice.

The overall number for underlying NPAT was $236 million in FY24, up from $205 million.

The superannuation and investments business also performed strongly, with underlying NPAT up 26.4% to $67M (from $53M in FY23), underpinned by solid market conditions, lower variable costs, and stronger cashflows.

However, AMP did record a 22.6% fall in underlying profit, with the number set at $72M for FY24, down from $93M in FY23. This was, the company said, due to continuing management of volumes as well as margins during the process of developing the new digital bank its working on.

But New Zealand Wealth Management did see an increase of 8.8% in underlying NPAT for FY24, which was $37M, up from $34M in FY23.

Chief Executive Alexis George said it had been a year of steady improvements.

“2024 was another year of strategic delivery for AMP as we build positive performance momentum and focus firmly on growth,” she said.

“We sold and transitioned the Advice business, hit cost targets and completed our $1.1 billion capital return program.

“Our wealth businesses are competing strongly in their chosen markets, driving positive performance, and we’re launching new offers including digital advice.

“In our North platform, there has been continued adviser take up of our innovative retirement products and managed portfolios, which is driving inflows. In Superannuation & Investments, our strong member proposition, including top-quartile investment returns for the year, are supporting the continued improvement in cashflows.”

AMP has been trading at $1.75.

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The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For full disclaimer information, please click here.