Australia

St.George Bank of Australia will reduce monthly account service fee from US$5.6 to US$4 per month. Additionally customers who deposit at least US$1610 per month into their account will have their monthly account service fee waived.

Regulators have lifted the ban on short selling bank stocks in Australia, and not surprisingly the prices fell.

HSBC has appointed Paulo Maia, currently Deputy CEO of HSBC Brazil, as CEO of HSBC Bank Australia. The new appointment will come into effect on 1 July 2009. Paulo Maia replaces Stuart Davis, who has been appointed CEO of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in India.

ANZ Bank Vietnam opened a Transaction Centre in Hanoi and a branch outlet in Ho Chi Minh City. It plans to open a further six new transaction offices over the next month.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the long-term ratings of JEM Southbank Pty Limited to A3 from A2. The outlook is stable.

Save and we will match that dollar for dollar, is NAB's message to encourage savings among lower-income Australians.

Australia's NAB is hoping its wealthiest customers will avoid those Swiss bankers and instead take up its family office offerings including cars and gifts.

Whilst the National Australia Bank is accused of looking at offshoring 628 jobs, Westpac chief Gail Kelly says she will not send jobs overseas while the economy remains tough.

Sorry mates, but ANZ and NAB won’t be following the Commonwealth Bank which announced its CEO Ralph Norris will take a 10 percent pay cut whilst ordering his top ten execs to take a 5 percent pay cut.

Aussie ATM gas attacks up this year with six in the last three months alone as bandits find empty streets and cash-filled machines an easy target.

Ex HSBC banker and now ANZ chief Mike Smith may be regretting pumping AUD1$million into his bank last year, given the bank just blew its profit forecast and cash profits fell by $716 million.

Bandits are increasingly blowing up ATM's down under and manufacturers are yet to come up with effective solutions.

Like a thief in the night came National Australia Bank to snare the top spot on the rungs of Australia’s banking ladder. And with growing fears of a recession plaguing banks down under, a USD2 billion cash injection could come as a shock. But the question is why does NAB have an extra AUD3 billion floating around in its coffers? The bank undertook a significant capital raising through the sale of its shares to institutional and retail investors, according to UBS analyst Jonathan Mott. Back in November, NAB announced both the institutional placement and retail share purchase plan. Mott said the bank raised capital in order “to strengthen its balance sheet and to finance organic growth.” But is it too little, too late for NAB, with local banks like Macquarie and ANZ already being slammed by the credit crunch? It seems the NAB’s timely capital raising efforts have given the bank the highest capital ratio of all the lenders down under, meaning it is well on its way to becoming the top dog in Australian banking. Mott estimates a “Tier 1 ratio of 8.13 percent for the 2009 financial year, which should place NAB towards the top end of peers. It is now ahead of its peers in terms of capital flexibility.” And with NAB scoring the first-mover’s advantage over its competition, it’s no surprise that the bank’s deputy CEO, Michael Ullmer is all smiles. “The group completed the placement before any other banks embarked on capital management initiatives,” he said.