Yesterday
ACCC wants switching banks to be as easy as ditching mobile providers
Gina Cass-Gottlieb’s ACCC deposit inquiry calls for Australia to introduce an account switching service like the ones that operate in Britain and the Netherlands.
- James Eyers
Sydney Airport flight slot manager has ‘conflict of interest’: ACCC
The company that chooses which aircraft take off and land at Sydney Airport is majority-owned by Qantas and Virgin.
- Jenny Wiggins
This Month
Google to pay $1b in antitrust settlement over Android app store
Terms of the settlement come after Epic Games, the maker of popular online game Fortnite, won a related case against the tech giant last week.
- Michael Acton
ACCC lashes banks for ‘opaque’ pricing of savings products
The ACCC has called for banks to notify customers of changes to bonus savings rates to help them switch, in the final report of its retail deposits inquiry.
- James Eyers
Google loses landmark antitrust case to Fortnite video game maker
A jury in California has found the big tech group abused its power to secure billions of dollars in profit from the Play Store.
- Michael Acton
The fate of ANZ and Suncorp deal is in the hands of these three people
The high-stakes legal battle over whether the $4.9 billion transaction should proceed is half done. And so far, it is unclear who’s on top.
- James Eyers
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Labor has no grasp of Australia’s need to compete
Everything Anthony Albanese has done since the election betrays an utter indifference to sharpening the ability of a high-cost economy to compete in the global marketplace.
- The AFR View
ACCC lets banks enter emergency talks on the future of cash
The competition regulator granted the Australian Banking Association interim authorisation to hold meetings to consider Armaguard’s request for extra funding.
- James Eyers
Merger crackdown risks VC funding going overseas
The tech industry has warned that the federal government’s proposed tougher merger laws would make it harder for founders to sell their businesses, stymying start-up returns.
- Ronald Mizen and Hannah Wootton
Bendigo says it can make ‘compelling’ offer for Suncorp Bank
The Australian Competition Tribunal’s hearing, starting on Monday, will reconsider the ACCC’s rejection of ANZ’s takeover of Suncorp Bank.
- James Eyers
November
ASIC ready to wield new power on ASX to force CHESS competition
The corporate regulator will move “very quickly” to make sure the new ASX clearing and settlement system allows in rivals.
- James Eyers
Treasury casts doubt on ACCC claims about bad behaviour in mergers
The ACCC is pushing for a mandatory approval regime, meaning parties would not only have to tell the regulator of deals but also get approval before going ahead.
- Michael Read
Bank lending margins are on an unrelenting three-decade slide
This week, Matt Comyn declared ANZ has seen “the largest margin erosion in the history of Australian banks”. The downward march has been a long time coming.
- James Eyers
Google chief Pichai grilled over excessive fees
The tech giant’s top executive was questioned over contracts and payments in his testimony in a trial brought by Epic Games over its app store.
- Michael Acton
ANZ sets out five reasons the ACCC was wrong to block Suncorp deal
Submissions published by the competition tribunal reveal the arguments ANZ and Suncorp will make at a hearing next month to get it to overturn the regulator.
- James Eyers
ANZ Plus launches digital home loans, plots expansion
ANZ Plus has ticked up to half a million customers, holding $10 billion in deposits. Last week, it launched mortgages to a limited group that is set to grow.
- James Eyers
Sharp drop in Australia’s economic competitiveness
New analysis of a major international index of competitiveness has a bleak message for the country’s economic leaders, and suggests future prosperity is at risk.
- Tom McIlroy
- Analysis
- The Breakdown
Google is paying someone else $40b to make sure you keep using it
The US government has made its case to prove Google is a monopolist. The Breakdown explains why some of the tech giant’s excuses are tortured.
- Nick Bonyhady
Qantas’ defence misses the point, see you in court: ACCC chief
Gina Cass-Gottlieb says her bombshell case against the airline goes to what customers were led to believe they were buying from Qantas.
- Hannah Wootton
DP World’s 52pc fee rise at Port of Melbourne labelled ‘exorbitant’
Former competition watchdog chairman Graeme Samuel says the federal government needs to control prices charged by stevedores at the nation’s container ports.
- Jenny Wiggins
