Weekly Update: 7 June 2024

Highlights this week:

• Announcement: Buy Now Pay Later legislation was introduced by Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones 
• In the media: Senate Estimates appearances from key government representatives attracted significant attention with a focus on Australia’s economic outlook.  
• Key data: The ABS released National Accounts data, showing that Australia’s economy grew by 0.1 per cent over the first three months of 2024 and 1.1 per cent over the year.

Quote of the week:
“If we think we’re on the narrow path, we can stay basically, pretty much where we are: not ruling anything in, ruling anything out…but if it turns out, for example, that inflation starts to go up again or it’s much stickier than we think we’re not getting it down, then we won’t hesitate to move and raise interest rates again.” 

– RBA Governor Michelle Bullock speaking at Senate Estimates on Wednesday. 

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Parliamentary Update:

• Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones introduced legislation for Buy Now Pay Later operators that will see them be regulated as consumer credit.  
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers issued a media release following the release of the National Accounts for the March quarter 2024. He said:
  • “These new numbers show we got the Budget right. This justifies the Government’s approach to fighting inflation without smashing the economy, when growth was already soft and people were already under pressure.” 
• The Treasurer, Minister Bowen and Minister Plibersek issued a joint media release on the inaugural issuance of a $7 billion green bond. 
• Small Business Minister Julie Collins welcomed the passage of legislation through the House of Representatives to shorten payment times for small businesses.  
• South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mullighan delivered the South Australia State Budget, with key investment initiatives into housing, cost-of-living measures, and social services.  
• Senate Estimates occurred through the week, which included appearances from the Treasury, APRA, ASIC, the RBA, AFCA and the ACCC. 

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Policy Update:

The ABA:  

• met with the Department of Finance Administration to discuss the consultation on Accreditation and Digital ID Rules and the Accreditation Data Standards. 
• met with the Treasury and Heads of Tax WG for our annual post-budget briefing on revenue measures. 
• met with Google to discuss scams initiatives. 
• held a meeting with Treasury about scams mandatory codes. 
• met with MasterCard and received an update on MasterCard scams initiatives. 
• convened an update from Treasury on payments licensing and digital assets licensing. 
• met with the Victorian Treasury Corporation to discuss the phase out of stamp duties on commercial properties.  
• met with Federal Treasury to discuss the tax implications of the recent federal budget.  
• met with UBS to discuss the current economic environment for banks. 
• met with the ICA to discuss opportunities for collaboration.  

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Regulatory Update:

• APRA issued a letter to all regulated entities stating their focus on CPS 234 and ensuring that all entities have sound information security practices in place.  
• ASIC released findings from a recent survey exploring perceptions and experiences of financial hardship. This ties into a new awareness campaign that ASIC’s Moneysmart is launching called “Just ask! Hardship Help is available”. 
• The Chair of APRA, John Lonsdale gave an opening statement to the senate economics legislation committee and emphasised APRAs focus on prudent lending practices and bank resilience.  
• ASIC issued a media release stating their logo has fallen victim to scam impersonation on social media, with the scams being focused on fake investments and stock market trading courses.

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Economic Update:

• National Accounts was released this week which showed that nominally, GDP grew by 0.1 per cent in the March quarter and 1.1 per cent since March quarter 2024, however on a per capita basis it shrunk by 1.3 per cent since March 2023. 
• Household savings as a proportion of total income shrunk to 0.9 per cent in the March quarter, from 1.6 per cent in the December 2023 quarter. 
• Gross operating surplus rose by 2.3%, led by non-mining industries. The ABS attributed this to increased activity and lower operating costs, particularly for Manufacturing as well as Professional, Scientific and Technical Services. 
• The Arts and Recreation industry exhibited the greatest annual and quarterly growth in gross value added (chain volume measures), growing 2.7 per cent in the March quarter and 4.6 per cent over the year to March 2024. The recent growth can be attributed to greater spending on sporting and music events during the first three months of the 2024 calendar year, Figure 1. 
• The gross value added of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing grew by 0.6 per cent in the March quarter but shrunk by 8.3 per cent over the year, however this is indicative of the variability of income in this sector, Figure 2.  

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Communications and Media:

• The ABA responded to a query from The Australian on mandatory industry codes for scams and whether social media companies were doing enough to protect consumers.  
• A response was also provided to ABC AM’s program on a survey commissioned by ASIC on financial hardship. We said banks stand ready to support customers who are struggling with repayments and there are longstanding arrangements in place to support people facing financial difficulty.  

In preparation for the Banking Conference, please download the ‘ZOHO Backstage App for attendees’ by clicking on your preferred Apps platform.
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Coming up next week:

Coming up next week:
Parliament/Regulators:  

• The federal parliament does not sit.  
• On 14 June, the draft redistribution for NSW federal seats will be released.  

Data announcements:  

• On 11 June, APRA releases the March quarter ADI statistics.
• On 13 June, ABS releases the May Labour Force statistics.

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Upcoming Submissions:

Published submissions

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Selected Media:

• The Australian – Why NZ Reserve Bank’s role is ripe for review 
• AFR – Economy still too strong despite recession talk 
• The Australian – ASIC claims its hands were tied on scam syndicate that defrauded 34,000 Aussies 
• ABC – Government ‘committed to cash’ as bank note distributor Armaguard faces fresh ACCC scrutiny  
• SMH – From mortgage checks to scam-busting: How your bank is using AI 

Weekly Update