Financial Services

Former Patersons Securities WA state manager Lewis Fellowes has been charged with using nearly $1.6 million in clients’ money for his personal use, and could be looking at up to 12 years behind bars.

A local financial services firm has been unable to secure its clients’ data following the failure of its east coast-based execution broker.

Rob Bransby has announced he will no longer leave his post as managing director of the state’s largest health insurer to become chief executive of Perth Racing.

The share market has edged higher despite weaker commodity prices and falls on other major markets.

The Australian stock market is trading lower after materials and healthcare stocks weighed on Wall Street in a second straight day of quiet trading.

CUA has enjoyed a strong lift in new home loans and a rise in half-year profit, but its boss says the result was held back by restrictions on investor lending.

Perth-based financial services provider Pioneer Credit has acquired an online mortgage broking company for an undisclosed sum.

Australia's largest payday lender, Perth-based Cash Converters International, has returned to the black and begun scaling back its troubled business in Britain.

Mortgage broking wholesaler Australian Finance Group has continued its growth run with an increase in profit for the six months to December.

The Australian share market has opened slightly higher after Wall Street performed better overnight amid increased oil prices.

Financial services provider Pioneer Credit says it’s on track for a record FY16, after delivering a 105 per cent rise in half-year profit.

Creditors of failed investment bank Lehman Brothers (Australia), including about 10 local councils in Western Australia, are likely to get a return of about 80 cents in the dollar after reaching a settlement with the owner of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

The Reserve Bank appears upbeat on the home front but won't rule out another interest rate cut in the face of an uncertain global economy.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has lifted first half cash profit 3.92 per cent to a record $4.804 billion, but has decided against increasing its interim dividend.

Professional services firm KPMG inked its 11th acquisition in the past two years today, announcing the purchase of Melbourne-based Markets IT for an undisclosed sum.

A Mandurah-based payday lender that collected exorbitant fees and interest repayments from customers will pay them back $34,500.

Macquarie Group remains on track for a record full-year profit of more than $2 billion, though it says volatile market conditions make forecasting difficult.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is expected to unveil another record first-half profit next week when it becomes the first of the big four to report results since last year's out-of-cycle mortgage rate hikes.

The Reserve Bank has again held fire on interest rates, issuing more upbeat domestic commentary despite an uncertain global outlook.

Melbourne-based PSC Insurance Group has put a value of $7.7 million on the Western Australian arm of Australian Reliance, after announcing today it was buying the insurance broking group in multiple phases.

Australia’s big four banks and one insurance company have been ranked within the top 100 most sustainable companies in the world, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia leading the charge for the nation.

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Australian Reliance has become the third major insurance broker in Western Australia to change hands in the space of five months, with newly listed company PSC Insurance Group agreeing to buy the Perth-based group.

Stockbroker Andrew Frazer is planning to keep together his 12-strong team in Perth and Sydney, after current backer GMP Securities announced a major restructuring of its international operations.

The executive chairman of Wembley-based ACI Broking Services has been banned from providing financial services for four years by the corporate watchdog.

The small Western Australian township of Yarloop appears to have been virtually wiped out and three residents are unaccounted for following an unpredictable bushfire, with the Insurance Council of Australia declaring it a catastrophe.

Strathearn Insurance Brokers has become the second big player in the sector to change hands this year, after US-based Arthur J Gallagher acquired the Perth firm for an estimated $60 million.

Western Australians are falling behind on their mortgage repayments at a higher rate than borrowers in any other state, according to new Reserve Bank of Australia data.

Falcon Minerals, which is preparing to become a 3D printer-focused company called i3D Technologies, has secured pre-commitments from investors ahead of a planned $5 million capital raising.

Kalgoorlie-based Goldfields Money has named former broker Simon Lyons as its new chief executive, concluding a lengthy board renewal process, which began three years ago when the company listed on the ASX.

The Australian share market is lower despite strength in materials and energy stocks, after Wall Street fell as a brief rally in oil prices fizzled.

An arrangement struck two years ago allowing Perth electrical, fire and security service provider Global Electrotech to slowly repay some of its $9 million plus debt to creditors has hit a snag.