HIH Insurance – Royal Commission – Details of revelations in the HIH Royal Commission that the board had gone uninformed of criticism by the consulting actuary. AFR P 43
Merrill Lynch – Hartley Poynton - Australian Operations – Report on the redundancy of 70 private client advisers by Merrill Lynch, along with details of Hartley Poynton’s deal with the company to provide retail distribution. AFR P 43
FAI – Inquiry – Continuation of front-page report in which details of alleged fraudulent reinsurance to keep FAI solvent were revealed. AFR P 43
Commonwealth Securities – Interim Profit Result – Posted a net profit of $13.81 million, down $822,569 or 5.6 per cent in the 12 months to the end of June. AFR P 44
Arthur Andersen LLP – Peer Review System – Report on Arthur Andersen LLP, auditor for collapsed US company Enron Corp and Australia’s failed HIH Insurance group. AA LLP’s unqualified success in 1998 peer reviews is being analysed in the wake of such results. AFR 44
Guinness Peat Group – Australian Growth Properties – Guinness Peat Group and Mr Greg Paramor have issued a three-step plan to AGP’s independent directors to improve share value. AFR P 48
Mantle Group – Report on the Queensland company’s plans for a $1 billion development project. AFR 48
Building Industry – Private certification – Local councils in Sydney are moving against private certification in building construction, as the major political parties call for an Upper House inquiry into alleged poor construction practice. AFR P 49
Development Applications – Short comparative commentary on the time taken to approve development applications by NSW councils. AFR P 49