Jonathan Shapiro April 7, 2014 Retailer Coles has blamed ”unnecessarily complex” regulation for stifling competition in the financial system as it forges ahead with plans to offer banking services to customers. The supermarket chain, which has applied for a banking licence that would allow it to take deposits from customers and provide financial services, said tough banking rules ”may incrementally shift to an unintended point where financially sound and otherwise well-regulated new entrants cannot compete in financial services in the future”. The claim came in its submission to the David Murray-led Financial Services Inquiry that compared regulation governing the provision of financial services products in other markets such as Canada, France and Britain. For example, UK supermarket Tesco’s banking arm offered its customers mortgages and held £5.2 million ($9.3 million) of deposits. Coles was not the only major non-financial company to engage with the inquiry. Australia Post also decried the…

MARCH 28, 2014 News.com.au CUSTOMS officers have smoked out more than 300,000 smuggled cigarettes and almost two tonnes of illicit molasses tobacco in Melbourne. Australian Customs and Border Protection Service officials used X-ray equipment to find the massive haul at its Melbourne container examination centre which they say should have attracted about $1 million in duty. About 100 cardboard boxes filled with the illicit cigarettes and 1866kg of molasses tobacco were found among household goods including blankets, plastic ware and ornaments. Customs national cargo operations manager Jagtej Singh on Friday said the tobacco is illegal because import duties had not been paid. The agency seized 183 tonnes of smuggled tobacco and 200 million cigarettes in 76 separate seizures last financial year, which represented a potential $151 million in unpaid duties. The maximum penalty for tobacco smuggling is 10 years’ jail or a fine of up to five times the amount…

The Australian WOOLWORTHS has pre-empted part of a Federal Court ruling today by unilaterally deciding that it will no longer link fuel discounts at its supermarkets and petrol stations. Woolies has been offering shoppers an 8c-a-litre fuel discount if they first qualified for a 4c-a-litre discount by purchasing $30 of groceries, and then topped it up with a similar discount by spending $5 on convenience items in a company-owned petrol station. As a result of action taken in the past few weeks, the offers are now independent of each other and no longer linked. A spokeswoman for Woolies confirmed yesterday that the linked offer had been withdrawn. “We said at the time when we sought a declaration from the Federal Court that we had discussed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission making our discounts independent of each other,” she told The Australian. “We believe our current petrol discounts are…

AAP MARCH 27, 2014 A PETITION calling for a ban on the sale of energy drinks to kids has been backed by Australia’s largest women’s organisation and doctors. The Country Women’s Association NSW and the Australian Medical Association have thrown their support behind a petition asking the government to ban energy drinks to those under 18 because of its harmful effects. High amounts of caffeine in most energy drinks have been shown to cause insomnia, headaches, rapid heart rates, nervousness, hypertension, anxiety and diarrhoea, the CWA said. “Who knows what damage, over time, this causes a developing body and mind,” CWA NSW president Tanya Cameron said in a statement on Thursday. “We protect our children from alcohol and tobacco and believe that energy drinks should also be included on this list.” More than 13,000 members of the CWA have signed the petition, which was presented to federal parliament by Nationals…

March 28, 2014 CSDecisions As the battle for breakfast continues, McDonald’s tempts customers with a free-for-a-limited-time brew. McDonald’s plans to give away free coffee during the morning daypart at participating U.S. locations for a limited time, as breakfast competition grows, a move that could put pressure on convenience stores who compete with the QSR giant for morning coffee sales. McDonald’s will offer free small McCafe coffees during breakfast hours from March 31 through April 13, the New York Daily News reported. The move comes as more quick-serve restaurants and convenience stores are vying for share of stomach in the breakfast war. Taco Bell recently introduced its breakfast waffle taco, and Starbucks recently revamped its sandwiches. McDonald’s Corp.’s McCafe product line, which also includes iced coffees and other drinks, debuted in the U.S. in 2009.