insto - Australian financial markets

Suncorp-Metway announced at full-year net profit of A$780 million, representing a strong year-on-year increase of A$432 million.  The insurance-banking giant, previously one of the most troubled of the large local financial institutions during the GFC, benefited from solid returns in its core insurance business, but its bank operations remain weak.

 ANZ's global head of capital markets Cathryn Carver will move to Hong Kong in October in a move which underlines the bank's continuing focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans says investors have overdone the Australian bond market rally, which he says has created a 50 percent probability of an RBA rate CUT by the end of the year.

RBS prices $A1.5bn 3-year fixed/FRN

Royal Bank of Scotland issued A$1.5 billion in a three-year fixed/floating bond, with maturity date 27 August 2013. Details are:

Fixed
A$750 million, coupon 7.25 percent

FRN
A$750 million, coupon 3-month BBSW + 245bps

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, made a hostile A$44 billion bid for Canadian fertilizer firm Potash Corporation, laying the foundations for what may become the biggest takeover of 2010. BHP is keen to expand into potash, a crucial ingredient to most fertilizers, with a successful bid transforming it into the market leader in the global fertilizer industry and diversifying its offerings beyond mining.

ANZ said it recorded unaudited underlying profits of A$3.6 billion for the nine months to June, up 26 percent for the corresponding period last year. This puts it on track to deliver earnings above A$4.5 billion for its 2010 financial year, ending September 30. CEO Mike Smith said that its core businesses were performing well against the backdrop of Australia’s “solid” economic performance, continuing Asian growth and the recovery in New Zealand.

In early July, key participants in Australia’s syndicated loans market gathered for a roundtable in the Sydney offices of law firm Blake Dawson. Here is an edited transcript of the discussion, moderated by Insto editor Lachlan Colquhoun.

Like most other markets, Q2 2010 was a quiet one for syndicated loans. In this context, VHA’s $3 billion syndicated loan was the exception to the prevailing rule and breathed some much needed life into the loans market.

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.

Multiple lawsuits are underway around the world as investors play the blame game in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Eric Meijer reports.