Intense competition, tougher regulation to weigh on growth ANZ Bank says first-half profit rises 4% to A$3.49 billion A two-decade “golden period” for Australian banks is coming to an end as increased competition and the potential for tougher regulation weighs on growth, according to the chief executive officer of the nation’s fourth-largest lender. “Our sector has had a golden period for 20-plus years and we don’t think that’s going to continue,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd....

Year-long Royal Commission starts in Melbourne court on Monday Scandals range from rate-rigging to mistreating customers Australia’s banks, rocked by years of scandals and wrongdoing, risk having further misconduct exposed as a powerful government-appointed inquiry into the nation’s financial industry starts. The yearlong Royal Commission will examine the nation’s banks, insurers, financial services providers and pension funds, and consider whether regulators have enough power to tackle...

Australia’s housing-market extravaganza is over. That’s the call the nation’s biggest mortgage-lender is making when it comes to its own money. In the past year, Commonwealth Bank of Australia has reduced its exposure to apartment developers by more than A$1 billion ($789 million), or 23 percent, according to data included in its first-half earnings report, released in Sydney Wednesday. Out of Fashion Commonwealth Bank's total exposure to apartment development is dropping Source: Company...