Just last week, Federal Treasurer Peter Costello told Australian’s not to worry about the subprime issues in the U.S. as the rate of defaults here in Australia is much less than in the U.S.
Yesterday, GE lodged accounts with ASIC showing Loan impairment losses for GE Capital Finance Australasia jumped 54% to $285 million.
JP Morgan banking analyst Brian Johnson said yesterday personal lending loss rates were rising “quite dramatically”, as shown by provisions at the GE unit rising to 219 basis points (as a percentage of total loans and advances). Mr Johnson estimated credit-card losses were running at about 260 basis points.
» Bad debt blowout drags on GE – news.com.au, May 23, 2007.