Cash-stashing and bank-bashing

Cash-stashing and bank-bashing
PM Jacinda Ardern engaged in a little bank-bashing. (Image: Getty)
Jenny Ruth
The price Heartland Group is paying for Australia-based Challenger Bank is about a third of the cost its advisers reckoned it would need to build a bank across the Tasman from scratch.Heartland chief executive Jeff Greenslade told its annual shareholders meeting last week that the Challenger purchase was “at an opportune time for values. The cost of purchasing a bank in Australia has moved in our favour”.The $36 million price Heartland is paying for Challenger is about a quarter of what buying a similar bank would have cost when Hea...

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