The Australian protege of the real-life Wolf of Wall Street has been permanently banned from providing financial services after an investigation found he used client money to pay off his debts and fund his partner's cosmetic surgery.

ANZ Bank is selling a group of Asian retail banking and wealth businesses to Singapore's DBS Bank, as chief executive Shayne Elliott scales back the lender's presence in the region.

Standard & Poor's has cut its credit rating outlook for second-tier Australian banks, highlighting the growing risks to lenders from rising property prices and household debt.

CBA has signed an agreement with Alipay, the multibillion-dollar finance business of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, aimed at helping Chinese tourists and students pay for goods and services while in Australia.

For NSW teenager Connor McLeod, who is blind, using an automated teller machine on his own has not been possible until now.

AMP, Australia's third-largest life insurer, said it expects to take a $668 million charge on its wealth protection business.

ANZ Bank's bottom line will take a $360 million hit in the second half, after the lender unveiled new charges for at-risk debts and restructuring costs.

Barclays said profit rose 35 per cent in the quarter as revenue from fixed-income trading surged.

NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn is pushing the bank towards being "smaller, leaner and simpler" as he seeks to combat a crunch on shareholder returns from stiff competition and tougher regulation.

• COMMENT

This isn't about one or two bad apples, this is about systems capabilities, governance oversights.

The big banks and AMP will be forced to refund more than $178 million to 175,000 financial advice customers after being found to have charged customers for advice services they never received.

National Australia Bank has delivered a $6.48 billion full-year profit and kept its dividend steady, despite some predictions it would cut its payout to shareholders.

Two of the German lender's creditors have an idea: pay bonuses with Tier 1 bonds.

The first "plant layoff" notice came in February: 43 people would lose their jobs.

It is unrealistic to expect banks to pass on any future cuts in official interest rates to home loan customers in full, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank chief executive Mike Hirst says.

No matter how low interest rates may fall, banks should make sure new borrowers are able to cope with borrowing rates of at least 7 per cent, new guidelines have confirmed.

• COMMENT

Tracker home loans could put an end to the tiresome cat-and-mouse game on mortgage pricing that follows every change in official interest rates.

When the Marie Schulte rounds the breakwater off the Chinese port of Qingdao in early November, bankers on two continents will be watching anxiously.

A Chinese company founded by billionaire Lu Zhiqiang stands to become the majority shareholder in Australia's largest mortgage insurer after making a $US2.7 billion ($3.6 billion) bid for its US-listed parent.

National Australia Bank this week kicks off a round of bank profit results that are forecast to show the big four lenders raked in more than $30 billion last financial year.

• COMMENT

The $107 billion charity sector is a sacred cow, but also a black box.

Investors in hedge funds have redeemed $68 billion in the first nine months of the year.

Australia's powerful banking regulator has declined to enter into the debate over whether Sydney faces a housing bubble.

Morgan Stanley reported a 57pc increase in profit as fixed-income trading revenue almost tripled.

More Australian homeowners are set to fall behind on their mortgages, Moody's predicts, due to the slump in the resources sector and the potential fallout from an apartment-building boom.

Australia's top financial regulator has dismissed as self-serving arguments by Australia's big four banks that they can't afford to offer so-called "tracker mortgages" that would move in tandem in official interest rates.

A resurgence in fierce price competition between Australia's big banks could pose a threat to the industry's prized dividends, new research says.

The corporate regulator is concerned that some life insurers with low rates of customer claim denials have actually been classifying claims that had been dismissed as "withdrawn claims".

Goldman Sachs' net income rises 46 per cent to $US2.1 billion in the third quarter, beating analysts' expectations.