Morning Briefing: ANZ scraps Asia-Pacific earnings target

A major bank has announced it will abandon its target for earnings in Asia... Renovation opportunities fall victim to red tape...

Major bank scraps Asia-Pacific earnings target
ANZ Banking Group will abandon its target for earnings in Asia, part of its new CEO Shayne Elliott's strategy to reduce the bank's presence in the region, according the The Australian Financial Review. 

Elliott said looking back, the bank should have predicted that some Asian nations would become more hostile to foreign banks after the 2008 financial crisis. 

"In hindsight we should have done it differently," he said in an interview with BOSS Magazine."But that's life."

Elliott said his focus in the region would be to achieve the best profit possible within their network rather than being fixed on a particular target.

"Earnings from Asia may be 35 per cent or 15 per cent – I don't care, so long as the objective is driving value," he said.

In depth: Doubling revenue in 12 months

Renovation opportunities fall victim to red tape
Costs associated with local government red tape have made structural renovations in area such as inner city Sydney unaffordable according to one renovation expert.

Professional renovator Cherie Barber, founder of the popular Renovating for Profit education courses, believes renovators looking to carry out major works on properties are being priced out of the opportunity as councils impose a more detailed planning and approval process.

“Councils these days are a lot more difficult to deal with and the costs of getting approval and things like construction certificates are making it really hard to do structural renovations in inner city areas,” Barber said.

“It used to be that councils would demand dilapidation reports for the houses immediately on either side of you, now they want reports for the three houses on the left of you and the three on the right. Those reports can be up to $1,500 a pop, which is a fair blow before you’ve even started work,” she said.

Barber said the change in stance from councils seems to be an attempt to reduce the chances of legal action in the future.

In depth: BDM in the spotlight: Melinda Batt