Time to break the banking 'lazy tax'
![Financial products are often designed to make them hard to compare with others.](/web/20161129034040im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/f/2/o/image.related.landscape.120x80.gsyvp1.png/1480321971034.jpg)
For all the criticism heaped on banks, most customers are notoriously reluctant to vote with their feet, and the industry knows this all too well.
For all the criticism heaped on banks, most customers are notoriously reluctant to vote with their feet, and the industry knows this all too well.
The scorecard has been released for the annual ratings battle, and there are no real winners.
Mike Baird's weakened position won't matter for the NSW economy right away, but it will down the track.
The efficiency dividend has become a euphemism for indiscriminate compulsory redundancies.
Ever stayed in a hotel, used a furniture removalist or bought a kitchen appliance after reading positive online reviews and felt like a victim of bait and switch?
For all the publicity Peter Dutton has generated for the coalition's tough-on-refugees, suspicious-of-Islam image, he's only added a tenuous terrorism footnote to an old story.
America's rate of growth has been slowing for decades, starting long before the onset of the global financial crisis.
Reserve Bank assistant governor Chris Kent missed a major opportunity this week. He delivered a speech about how the various states are travelling but totally omitted a key reason for the two out-performers doing so well.
Since the raids were conducted, there has been numerous theories around why Crown in particular was targeted.
Asian literacy matters. Yet even a cursory look at figures for participation in year 12 Chinese reveals the extent of our failing
It's not too late for the nation to realise its potential. By selecting the right projects, we can certainly afford it – if only we had politicians with the vision and discipline to lead.
Conventional theory on the strategy of mergers and acquisitions says that timing plays a large part in success or failure.
Well that's one way to deal with the problem of bracket creep – don't have a wages increase.
The president-elect plans to continue to own his global business while in office. This is a colossal mistake.
If I were an Australian politician I'd think hard about the ascension of Trump before I drew conclusions for local consumption.
Bond yields are climbing because of a feeling things are about to get better.
How has poor little Oz managed to keep our economy growing continuously for 25 years while, in the same period, other economies have suffered a recession or even two? We've had good insurance policies.
In December 2015 James Evans hatched a plan with the National Union of Workers to go under cover to expose wage fraud at a third party fund raiser for some of the country's most well known charities.
Quite simply, the business case has not added up for the Arrium steelworks, even with bits and pieces of protectionism
The fact that investors and retail experts are overjoyed about Myer reporting a 1.6 per cent improvement in sales in the first quarter of the 2017 financial year says a lot about the state of department stores in Australia.
Treasurer Scott Morrison and the Business Council of Australia have wasted no time in grabbing Donald Trump's election as a justification for cutting Australian corporate tax rates.
Would you trust Donald Trump with $US20 trillion ($26.6 trillion) of debt? How about lending him another $US7 trillion or so on top of that? You wouldn't be alone in thinking twice about the prospect.
Woolworths'Â biggest problem child, Big W, just got a lot more difficult after the architect of its turnaround strategy, Sally Macdonald, quit after just ten months in the job.
For every corporate gender diversity policy, for every well-intentioned plan aimed at stamping out sexual harassment and bullying, there is a man on whom the message is lost.
Australia must be prepared to undergo hard structural reforms.
Shareholders in $11.5 billion commercial property company, Goodman Group, must this week be wondering just how good its chief executive Greg Goodman is.
The president-elect's inflationary pledges have difficult implications for emerging markets.
Sorry, but I find the ascent of Donald Trump more fascinating than frightening. If it's all going to be so terrible, how exactly is he going to make it happen?
The caveat has go up front: given his propensity for lying, exaggerating and generally raving, nobody can know what Donald Trump will actually do as president. He probably doesn't know himself.Â
Donald Trump's big win might seem a big loss for China. However, his policies will ultimately work to China's advantage.
The 'Sainthood' experience offers big spenders the chance to be winemakers.
They've been hailed as the cure-all to an athlete's woes, but are they worth the hype?
Queensland is about to introduce a new state payment scheme for subcontractors.
Whether it's persistence or luck, it takes something extra to land these deals.
A free independent guide from SMH with expert information.
A free independent guide from SMH with expert information.
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