Comments on: BankWest – What is the Story?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:01:14 +0000

I would normally agree, but the reporting under pillar 3 should be fairly uniform wherever it is. Reporting under IFRS should also be uniform.
In theory at least.

By: Yong-Long Lai

Yong-Long Lai — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:38:29 +0000

This could be due to timing of provisioning, if the UK banks provisions as late as possible and Australian banks provisions as early as possible, it would cause a huge increase in provisioning (which is what is written on paper).

Sort of like the difference between paying interest in advance (pre pay: pay for the provision then use it during the year) and paying interest in arrears (post pay: write it off first, then provision as necessary). Pre pay gives the bank a large ‘buffer’ whereas post pay doesn’t give the bank much ‘buffer’ at all.

By: Norris Ralph

Norris Ralph — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:04:47 +0000

Perhaps CBA took a really worst case view, which declared exposures as either black or white (no gray allowed) and therefore inflated the credit deterioration situation at BankWest.

Say, aren’t CBA in final purchase price negotiations with HBOS? (who are in no position to take the asset back)

By: Best Rate Credit Cards

Best Rate Credit Cards — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:11:25 +0000

Would this make BankWest a bad investment for CBA? If BankWest had to setup offices, equipment and staff over east, wouldn’t canceling these cost a huge amount? Sounds like they are cutting there losses and focusing on becoming profitable again. Once that happens maybe the CBA will re brand BankWest and complete the takeover.