Seeing the GFC but not what came after
Ashok Jacob had the foresight to anticipate the financial crisis and limit investor losses by taking out insurance in the options market. But he admits his mistake was the Federal Reserve.
Insurers make even bankers blush
The Hayne royal commission began its latest round of hearings with a tawdry tale of unchecked greed and duplicity that would make even a banker blush.
Canada shows big is beautiful
If the future of Australia's superannuation sector revolves around a handful of mega-sized industry funds, each with more than $200 billion in assets, then Canada's pension industry provides the ideal place for some crystal ball gazing.
Political mess sends power prices up
Labor will take the NEG or something similar to the next election as new data showed prices had jumped since the policy was scrapped.
20 days longer to sell a house in Sydney
Apartments are now selling faster relative to houses in Sydney and Melbourne as the larger market of first-home buyers focuses on affordability.
ClearView's boiler room on show
Insurer and wealth manager ClearView has admitted to more than 300,000 breaches of anti-hawking laws and selling lower quality life insurance policies to poor people on the first day of insurance hearings.
What the RBA didn't tell us about debt
No crisis may be 'imminent', but the RBA has little to offer on how we can escape record high debt levels before our luck runs out.
'When' not 'if' for Canavan to pull gas trigger
Resources Minister Matt Canavan will meet with gas industry executives this week regarding the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism.
Insurer targeted poor people with low quality products
ClearView deliberately targeted customers from lower socio-economic backgrounds with more expensive policies, but abandoned the model only after it realised that the regulator was about to turn up the heat.
Telstra ramps up 5G rollout
Telstra says its plans to roll out 5G infrastructure early will give it an edge. Optus and Vodafone say it is a waste of time.
Airports hit back at 'ill-founded slurs' on reputation
Airports have told the Productivity Commission they are not abusing their market power and do not need more regulation.
How did ClearView get it so wrong?
Not only did ClearView's life insurance sales tactics make no money, they also led to 300,000 criminal breaches of the Corporations Act.
Trade tensions take a toll on markets
Stocks and currencies in Australia and elsewhere are buckling under the rising trade tensions between the US and China.
Household debt crisis 'not imminent'
The risks to banks and households are 'high' after a 30-year debt binge, but a robust economy and falling unemployment mean widespread financial distress among households is not on the horizon.
ASX notches up eight straight losses
The Australian sharemarket has fallen for an eighth consecutive session, its longest losing streak since 2016.
Ramelius adds fuel to fire in gold sector M&A;
Ramelius Resources has added fuel to the fire under merger and acquisitions in the gold sector with an aggressive $59 million bid for a junior explorer sitting on a 485,000 ounce ore reserve in Western Australia.
Markets Live: ASX closes at lowest value since June
The ASX closed at 6141.7 this afternoon, down 2 points and at a value not seen since mid-June.
Opinion
Morrison's huge problem in Wentworth
Andrew Bragg's decision to withdraw from running for Malcolm Turnbull's former safe seat of Wentworth is the latest example of politics turning somersaults in Liberal partyland.
Crazy quilt White House needs to be carefully managed
Managing the crazy-quilt administration as effectively as did Mr Turnbull and Julie Bishop did will take some skill.
Insurers' Hayne confessions do not bode well
Senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr started the banking royal commission's insurance round with a laundry list of misdeeds by Australia's top insurers.
Why NAB's rates strategy may not work
NAB's shareholders have two reasons to be nervous about Andrew Thorburn's strategy to not raise its standard variable home loan rates.
ScoMo takes charge of the Muppets
A full house watched Scott Morrison step up as prime minister but Julie Bishop stood out on the backbench.
Pressure builds on Libs over female candidates
The Liberal Party has pushed aside the preselection frontrunner in Wentworth after internal research showed a female candidate stood a better chance of winning.
'Peter, long-time between calls'
Peter Dutton has again denied misleading Parliament over the growing au pair scandal, despite an email showing a former police colleague greeted him by name.
Liberals work on their women problem
It took the prospect of losing a parliamentary majority to get the Liberal Party to take its women problem seriously.
How shock jocks demanded Turnbull's head
Coalition MP Warren Entsch has seen text messages sent to colleagues by high profile media commentators that were hateful of Malcolm Turnbull and demanded he be dumped.
Moonves leaves CBS with uncertain future
As the boss departs under a sexual harassment cloud, the market is wondering if America's number one network can survive on its own.
Slovenian bank bailout victims want their money back
In 2013, Slovenia rescued its failing banks by wiping out stock investors. Now some of those investors want their money back.
European solar farms sprout up without subsidies
Governments are cutting incentives as prices drop, and renewables are competitive with fossil fuels in more places.
Theresa May's Brexit plans 'opposed by 80 rebels'
The British PM's Conservative Party faces a "catastrophic split" if she persists with her proposals on Brexit, which 80 or more of her lawmakers are prepared to vote against, a former junior minister said.
Pence confident no one on his staff wrote NYT column
US vice president says he's "100 per cent confident" that no one on his staff was involved with the anonymous New York Times column criticising President Donald Trump's leadership.
Personal Finance
Why this Rich Lister is selling property, not buying shares
Rich Lister Rod Jones says too many stocks are trading at high valuations. He's also selling property, arguing prices will continue to soften along the east coast.
NAB holds rates to try to 'build trust'
National Australia Bank could steal some market share from its bigger rivals after deciding to hold its standard variable rates.
How an Australian economist hacked the lottery 14 times
Stefan Mandel, a Romanian-Australian economist, developed a formula that's allowed him to win the lottery 14 times. It's a six-step process designed to hack the system.
Five ways women can get ahead
AFR BOSS Magazine talks to three women at the top of their game about getting ahead.
Treasury's directors push meets resistance
Business groups are resisting a push by federal Treasury for the Hayne royal commission to recommend the annual election of directors, limit terms and impose restrictions on board seats.
Uni appeals to staff to accept longer hours
Victoria University in Melbourne has appealed to staff to agree to more staff hours and streamlined dispute settling processes, but the NTEU says the deal "takes away staff and rights".
Tech industry risks a new era of sexist AI
Most of those programming artificial intelligence bots are men and we got docile female virtual assistants, happy to be obedient in the face of rudeness.
Lifestyle
Infosys named new Australian Open partner
Indian technology consultancy Infosys is the new technology partner of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
David Rowe's cartoon
