This week in banking - PM says JobKeeper temporary and 5 other things you don’t want to miss!

• JobKeeper program not here to stay
• Customer owned banks hit milestone under the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme
• 2020 Mozo Experts Choice Awards: best online share trading platforms 
• Business optimism at an all time low in April 
• ASIC’s expert group to help youth financial literacy  
• COVID-19: Over half of Aussies struggle with debt and some fear financial future

All in this week’s banking recap.

Wage subsidy end in sight: JobKeeper not sticking around 

Since the JobKeeper program commenced over a month ago, a massive 768,000 businesses have signed up for the scheme. 

However, in a recent statement, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suggested that the initiative may be over sooner than expected. 

“What our objective is, is to grow the economy and get people back into jobs, and we’re making sure that people are being supported by the economy, and not the taxpayer, as quickly as possible,” he said.

“People don’t want to be on JobKeeper and JobSeeker. They want to be in a job that’s paying them.” 

According to the Government, the success of the COVID-19 containment measures, and the easing of restrictions, has brought into question the necessity of the scheme as time goes on. 

Read full article: Don't get attached to JobKeeper, says PM and check out what the outlook is for employment in the coming months. 

First Home Loan Deposit Scheme: Over 1,000 Aussies purchased homes with customer-owned banks 

New figures released by the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA), revealed that 1,150 first home buyers have secured a property under the new government scheme, using customer-owned banks. 

The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme kicked off at the beginning of this year and allows first home buyers to purchase a home with a deposit as low as 5% without having to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). 

COBA chief executive, Michael Lawrence said that given the current challenges of COVID-19, these recent numbers are encouraging for customer-owned banking institutions.  

Read full article: Customer owned banks hit First Home Loan Deposit Scheme milestone for more comments from Michael Lawrence on the success of the scheme. 

2020 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for best online share trading announced!

Whether you’ve just started to dip your toes in share trading, like to dabble now and then or are a hardcore ASX finatic, you’re in luck! 

This month we announced the 2020 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for best online share trading platforms. The categories included best casual trader, best regular trader, best active trader and exceptional share trading app. 

This year’s winners were CMC Markets, Self Wealth, Commonwealth Bank’s CommSec and Westpac, some of which took home more awards than one!  

Read full article: The best online share trading platforms in Australia in 2020 for an in-depth look at this year’s winning platforms. 

Optimism among Aussie businesses remains weak during COVID-19

In the latest Roy Morgan Business Confidence poll, it showed that business confidence dropped to record lows in April, and for the second month in a row.  

According to the Roy Morgan index, confidence has fallen by a huge 19% to 76.9 points since March. 

Unsurprisingly, the stats showed that 65% of businesses are in a worse financial position now than this time in 2019, plus 3 in 4 business owners don’t expect the economy to recover in the coming year. 

Read full article: Business confidence hits record low in April and find out what hope the government’s three-step plan has for Aussie businesses. 

ASIC to start expert group to support youth financial literacy 

After Australia ranked fifth in a major international test of youth financial literacy, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has decided to implement a new way to boost young Aussies’ knowledge of finance. 

While ASIC acknowledges that fifth (out of 20 countries) is a good result, the regulatory body believes that more can be done to support financial education outside of the classroom. 

In 2018, around 117,000 15-year-old Australians took part in the test which evaluated their financial problem-solving abilities in areas like loans, debit cards, spending, income and even choosing mobile plans. 

ASIC’s new expert group will identify where Aussie kids are having the biggest issues when it comes to understanding finances and support them in improving their knowledge and skills in those areas. 

Read full article: ASIC to set up expert group for youth financial literacy for a rundown of where you can find free education resources for young people. 

62% of Aussies can’t handle debt during COVID-19 

This week, data analytics and consumer intelligence company, J.D. Power revealed that just under two thirds of Aussies are struggling with debt due to the outbreak of coronavirus. 

According to the stats, a massive 77% of people feel financially stressed during the pandemic, and 24% are extremely stressed. 

J.D. Power also found that 11% of personal loan customers are unable to make their current repayments, with many specifying they need financial assistance from their bank, such as waived fees or repayment freezes. 

Read full article: COVID-19: 62% of Aussies struggle with debt and some fear worst is yet to come and see how Australians are feeling about their current banks. 

Want to find a competitive personal loan? Check out the table below for a bunch of killer options!