George is the magazine for St.George Bank’s corporate customers. Aimed at executive-level readers, it features customer case studies, news, articles on emerging business and management trends, product information, lifestyle features and more.
Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/48224
Australia is the tops: IMF It may not feel like it, but according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), our nation is doing better than most when it comes to riding the current financial rollercoaster. The IMF believes Australia is "very well placed to handle the worst the world could throw at us", Treasurer Wayne Swan said following the announcement that he had scooped the gong as the world's best finance minister. Former Labor Treasurer (and later Prime Minister) Paul Keating won the award in 1984 – and was later referred to in some quarters as the 'world's greatest treasurer'. For his part, Swan was quick to tip his hat to his predecessors' good fiscal policies, as they allowed him to drive Australia safely through choppy waters. He praised the economic reforms of the Hawke–Keating governments and the coalition administration of John Howard and Peter Costello. "There's 30 years of economic reform and I pay tribute ... to governments of both persuasions." The Treasurer remained focused on emphasising the country's plus points whenever he was addressing the rest of the world's financiers. "I will certainly be making the point that it's very important that the Europeans get their act together," he said. "There's no doubt political inaction lies at the core of this challenge in both Europe and the United States." Australia, on the other hand, was free of political gridlock, Swan said, of the kind that paralysed creative financial solutions in other nations. Help is on its way Ever wished your telecom system was psychic? Brisbane-based satellite service provider Indigo Telecom may have the answer with its new automated crisis response service. Indigo's highly intelligent SpaceGuard program is the "first system of its kind" to both identify when a person is in trouble and then to automatically send help. It's been designed for international companies with employees operating in risky places without GSM reception, such as natural disaster areas, conflict zones, remote mine sites and maritime regions likely to be patrolled by pirates. SpaceGuard has the potential to make an enormous difference to the way emergency services are able to locate people caught up in disasters, such as those that struck in Fukushima, Christchurch and Queensland earlier this year. Google Wallet arrives We're all familiar with the interactive MasterCard® PayPass™ innovation, designed to avoid queues at Starbucks. We might even have used our iPhones as boarding passes as we fly around the world. Now there's Google Wallet. An application for Android phones, it promises to allow touch-and-go payments from our phones. The app works by storing virtual versions of your existing plastic cards on your phone. Then, at checkouts offering PayPass as a payment option, you simply tap your phone on the terminal reader and Google Wallet will process the payment. Google Wallet is running in the US, but not (at time of writing) in Australia – but hopefully it won't be long before we join in the action. Google Wallet can also work with Google discount and loyalty cards (such as Google Offers and Google Shopper). Looks like the cashless economy just got one step closer ... Source: www.google.com Banks seek boost for parents Working parents within the banking industry could get a boost, thanks to a banking industry proposal on their behalf. The Australian Bankers' Association is asking the Federal Government, in a national tax forum, to consider tax breaks for parents who want to work but are put off by high childcare costs. The Association's research paper outlines three major areas, including childcare benefits, state taxes, and savings and investment incentives. "The banking industry supports measures that make it easier for people with children to work," the ABA said in a statement. "The financial trade-off of childcare versus stay-at-home means that some staff choose to leave work to look after children." The government forum will consider a number of potential reforms to personal and business income tax, state taxes and transfer payments, which redistribute income. Source: www.bankers.asn.au www.stgeorge.com.au/george George 5