WBC - Westpac Banking Corporation

[coolcup]

The WBC entitlement offer website says that the online acceptance form will be available today. When I go to the site, there is no such thing available. Anyone else having this issue?

Website appears fixed now.

 

[Ferret]

Just out of interest, any reason you want to take up the offer as soon as it opens?

I prefer to wait until near the close a. so I have the cash for longer & b. in case a black swan event sends the share price below the offer price.

 

[coolcup]

Just out of interest, any reason you want to take up the offer as soon as it opens?

I prefer to wait until near the close a. so I have the cash for longer & b. in case a black swan event sends the share price below the offer price.

You are spot on Ferret - that is exactly what I normally do. I may be without internet access for a period during the retail offer so wanted to lock the entitlements in now. Given it is a 1/23 offer, the amount of capital we are talking (for my holdings) is pretty limited so I am not too worried about the interest lost in the meantime.

 

[Ferret]

I may be without internet access for a period during the retail offer so wanted to lock the entitlements in now.

Yes, I've been in that situation too. I think this offer is a pretty safe bet.

 

[SmokeyGhost]

I have actioned the application as well but scheduled the BPay for the day before the offer closes so I have the opportunity to cancel it should circumstances change.

 

[kid hustlr]

Everyone is aware of the issues with the banks at present however the last 2 days of action I found interesting.

$28 has been a long term support level for WBC and it's held in nicely again.

Aggressive traders could have a go right now or wait several more days to see if the 28.50 level is re-captured.

It's likely there will be more news to come in the banking sector so I would caution looking for too much. I also feel there are better opportunities at present and as such will stand aside in this case. I also naturally have a decent chunk of indirect exposure to the big 4 via other investment vehicles.

 

[Joules MM1]

Everyone is aware of the issues with the banks at present however the last 2 days of action I found interesting.

$28 has been a long term support level for WBC and it's held in nicely again.

Aggressive traders could have a go right now or wait several more days to see if the 28.50 level is re-captured.

It's likely there will be more news to come in the banking sector so I would caution looking for too much. I also feel there are better opportunities at present and as such will stand aside in this case. I also naturally have a decent chunk of indirect exposure to the big 4 via other investment vehicles.

View attachment 87118

shortman.com.au backs your call, puke prior to the low, added shortsales will get squeezed
divergent 21day TMF
the last time (mid 2012) the 13week TMF got this low was near low 27's and it was a top buy then as managers rebalanced/bailed so now we dropped into the same zone and a low risk opportunity long appears at hand

28's zone/floor appears to a great buy for the average SMSF i spose

 

[nulla nulla]

The potential of mortgage exposure through dodgy loan approvals might be worrying some investors. Coupled with easing property prices could see a bit of a sell down in the near future. I wouldn't be surprised to see bigger provisions for bad and doubtful loans in forthcoming reporting. Especially now that the regulators are under more pressure to scrutinize their books.

 

[Sharkman]

i'm not too worried about it. IMHO it's just a knee jerk reaction to the UBS research note. i've never really trusted broker research notes, i'm very cynical towards them, i always suspect there's some sort of motive behind them. maybe UBS are keen to do some divvy stripping and wanted to beat the prices down with divs in 3 of the big 4 coming up, i dunno.

from what i read (though i only skimmed over a few articles briefly) it seemed to me that most of the question marks here stem not so much from blatant misinformation (eg. declaring an annual income of 150K when their real income was 50K), although i'm sure there are isolated cases of that, but more to do with the use of HEM to project the customer's expenses and the view that this measure errs on the low side. but i don't think one can simply assume that because a loan was approved due to the customer's expenditure being underestimated by HEM, it will automatically turn into a bad loan.

people will go to great lengths to not lose their home, even if it was bought with a loan they perhaps shouldn't have been given. i speak from personal experience, as a child growing up in the 90s, when the interest rates shot thru the roof during Keating's recession, i remember having to eat peanut butter sandwiches for dinner instead of a hot meal, no family outings, second hand school uniforms etc. people will make sacrifices, they'll reduce expenditure as much as they can, do whatever's possible to keep hanging on until they've stabilised their situation. defaulting is almost always an absolute last resort. especially here with full recourse loans.

of course i could be wrong and the stock prices could plummet even further, in which case i'll definitely feel it in the hip pocket, as i do hold a decent chunk of my portfolio in banks (and will continue to do so).

 

[Toyota Lexcen]

very disappointing performance from WBC.

over 15yrs your capital gone nowhere

no justification for banks/or executives being so highly rated in the investment/financial world

 

[tinhat]

very disappointing performance from WBC.

over 15yrs your capital gone nowhere

no justification for banks/or executives being so highly rated in the investment/financial world

If you bought fifteen years ago you would have paid about $12. While that capital value may not have appreciated in real terms over that period, the accumulative return based on the dividend stream would be very impressive. Currently you would be earning a 15.7% dividend yield on that holding (before franking credits). A very high and tax effective income stream. [edited - first post had wrong prices]

 

[sptrawler]

If you bought fifteen years ago you would have paid about $12. While that capital value may not have appreciated in real terms over that period, the accumulative return based on the dividend stream would be very impressive. Currently you would be earning a 15.7% dividend yield on that holding (before franking credits). A very high and tax effective income stream. [edited - first post had wrong prices]

Was there, did that.

What about BHP, $30 down to $12 six or seven years ago, now $34. They haven't done much either.
Come on the next crash, last time bought CSL at $27, don't think that will happen again.

 

[PZ99]

Something fishy about this decision?

In an extraordinary move, the Federal Court has refused to approve a $35 million penalty for Westpac, despite the bank admitting it broke responsible lending laws.

The penalty was a negotiated settlement between Westpac and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Westpac admitted its automated loan approval system used the Household Expenditure Measure (HEM) — a relatively low estimate of basic living expenses — to calculate potential borrowers' living costs.

The bank used the HEM instead of actually evaluating the customers' declared living expenses, and admitted this practice breached the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.

This meant affected customers were approved for home loans they potentially could not afford to repay without financial hardship.

ASIC alleged the bank approved about 50,000 home loans based on a HEM benchmark, even though the customers' declared living expenses were higher.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/westpac-home-loan-responsible-lending-asic-case/10491452

 

[Ann]

....and a long term daily 8 year chart. I have charted the various support and resistance levels. Resistance $28, potential supports of $25, around $20, around $16. I have also added a Fibbo for those who look at that feature.

 

[sptrawler]

I hope you are right Ann.

 

[bigdog]

Westpac Bank is trying to compete with Afterpay!!!!

YOU MUST HAVE A CREDIT CARD!

I have a Westpac Credit Card and on Wednesday last week I spent just over $500 charged to my card.

On Friday, I received email from Westpac offering my to used new "Large Purchase SmartPlan" with terms of 3, 6 or 12 months, our 0% p.a. Large Purchase SmartPlan may make paying off big ticket items or a large, unexpected expense, a little easier.

Please refer my posting using link below APT - Afterpay Touch Group

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/posts/1013202/

 

[Ann]

An Upheaval Is Coming for Australian Banks

Australia’s scandal-plagued banks are set for their biggest upheaval in decades as a wide-ranging inquiry into misconduct recommends how the nation’s financial industry should atone for wrongdoings.

In its final report to be released in Canberra on Monday, the government-appointed Royal Commission could propose financial firms be broken up to avoid conflicts of interest, push for changes to pay and bonuses, tighten lending standards, urge tougher action from regulators, and even push for charges against banks and senior executives.

 

[Ann]

I checked the ADRs list WBC is there as was ANZ, BOQ, CBA, NAB The Complete List of Australian ADRs trading on the US Exchanges as of Jan 1, 2019 and The Complete List of Australian ADRs trading on the US OTC Markets as of Dec 25,2018
It will be interesting if these are sold down overnight after the report is released. I would hate to own bank stocks at the moment with the US being able to get in first.

 

[tinhat]

I find it interesting that the only big four bank to have not been targeted for prosecution by the Hayne Royal Commission is the one that was run by a woman for most of the past decade or so. This is from the Gail Kelly Wikipedia page "In October 2010, Kelly announced a target to have women occupy 40% of the top 4000 managerial positions at Westpac, a task reported by The Australian newspaper to have been almost achieved by March 2012."

Maybe board and management diversity is something we as shareholders should be pushing for more.

 

[sptrawler]

ASIC's case against WBC, over irresponsible lending practices, thrown out of court.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/ban...ark-case-against-westpac-20190813-p52gii.html