insto - Australian financial markets

WHILE AUSTRALIA looks towards Islamic finance as a way of boosting its stature as a regional financial hub, Britain’s attempts to turn itself into a Shariah centre have been labelled a “huge flop” in a controversial article in The Times newspaper.

IN Q2, 2010, a theatrical classic has been touring Australia to sell-out audiences in which the absurdity of human existence has been laid bare. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, written in 1948 and starring Sir Ian McKellen in the Australian production, tells the story of two characters who wait for a character called Godot, who never appears.

Nomura has announced three new senior hires in a further sign of its expanding Australian ambitions. But headhunters believe the bank had to pay over the odds to attract the trio and is now reassessing its recruitment goals for 2010.

Untested, potential, profitable: no recent mention of Australia’s coal seam gas (CSG) reserves seems complete without these descriptions. Lauded as the feedstock for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Australia, CSG has graduated from a once unpleasant byproduct of the coal mining industry to the darling of the Australian LNG industry, promising to unlock the lucrative global gas markets for Australia’s domestic gas companies.

The unprecedented level of government response following the fall out of the global financial crisis (GFC) saw the global financial system undergo seismic transformation. As a result, some industry sectors have been permanently transformed.

Boston Consulting Group calls it the “regulation tsunami” set to overwhelm the world’s financial system. APRA says it is inevitable, but the local banking industry is wary and resistant. So how will the regulatory push play out in Australia, once all the shadow- boxing is done? By Lachlan Colquhoun.

On The one side, there is the Federal Government and the regulators. Australia needs to be a good G20 global citizen and move in concert with the rest of the world, to make the globe safe from future financial meltdown.

GDP grows 0.5 percent in first quarter

Macquarie property affiliate Macquarie DDR Trust has announced plans to raise $200 million through the issue of new units to bolster its balance sheet. The trust, an investor in US shopping centres, also announced the introduction of real estate investor EPN as a new cornerstone investor. Macquarie’s 50 percent interest in DDR Management, the trust’s owner, will be sold to EPN after the offer is completed.

Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s April board meeting show the bank’s decision to raise official interest rates was strongly influenced by the rise in the national terms of trade. The RBA said the increase in the terms of trade for this year “was likely to be substantially stronger than forecast in the February Statement on Monetary Policy.” The board minutes said lending rates were still below average when it decided to lift rates earlier this month.