by Nick Rainsford | 8 May 2017 | Business, General, Investments, Uncategorized
I’d been wanting to read a book written by CIA agent, Robert Baer. The book – called See No Evil – was released just after 9/11. I wanted to wait for all the hype to die down before tackling the seriousness of the topic – failure of the CIA to detect and...
by Nick Rainsford | 12 Dec 2016 | Business, Financial Thymes newsletter, General, Home loans, Investments, Leasing, Uncategorized
In a conversation with a few friends a couple of weeks ago – and while we were all expressing collective dismay at the current state of banking in Australia and globally (as you do when the sticky wine is being served ahead of the cheese platter) – the topic turned to...
by Nick Rainsford | 24 Oct 2016 | Business, General, Uncategorized
Over the past few decades there has been a relentless march by Australian banks to reduce costs. I used to work for three foreign banks in the 80s, 90s and naughties who used to laugh at Australian banks’ cost to income (CI) ratios – all below 50% (now in the low...
by Nick Rainsford | 13 Jun 2016 | Business, General, Home loans, Investments, SMSF, Uncategorized
Way back in 1985, the Hawke/Keating government threw the financial markets’ doors open. 16 new banks were licensed and allowed to operate in the Australian market. It was a new era. We should finally get some competition. And we did. That’s a far cry from the...
by Nick Rainsford | 6 Jun 2016 | Business, General, Home loans, Investments, SMSF
We spoke to a wonderful client last week, who had run a substantial business employing hundreds of people. He had been banking with a major Australian Bank for four decades. Now they’re designed to frustrate. He was used to dealing with a decision maker. He’s...
