Shares in Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) have eclipsed the $200 per share barrier once more in early trade. They are currently up 2.62% from the open at $200.77 after reaching $201.50 earlier in the session.

The milestone marks the second move beyond the prestigious $200 per share mark, after the bank first hit the target late last month.

While there’s been no market sensitive information out of Macquarie’s camp today, here we uncover what’s been keeping its share price so top-heavy lately and what the experts are saying about it.

What’s up with the Macquarie Bank share price lately?

Macquarie advised it had successfully completed an equity raise of $1.5 billion via an institutional placement on Monday.

The funds are said to strengthen the bank’s balance sheet while offering additional flexibility to invest in new opportunities as they arise.

Shares were offered to institutional investors at $194 per new share, a 3.3% discount from the company’s current share price.

A share purchase plan (SPP) is set to follow the institutional placement, allowing existing shareholders to apply for an additional $30,000 of Macquarie shares.

Aside from this, the bank also released its interim report for the first half of FY22 where it recognised a robust performance.

For instance, it grew its first half net profit by 104% to $2.04 billion and expanded its assets under management (AUM) by 31% to $737 million.

This enabled the board to announce a partially franked interim dividend of $2.72 per share, an increase of 101% from the previous year’s interim dividend of $1.35 per share.

On this performance, analysts at leading investment bank JP Morgan have since chimed in with their opinion, also offering their outlook on the Macquarie share price.

Why is JP Morgan bullish on Macquarie shares?

The team at JP Morgan were impressed by the bank’s preliminary results, particularly with the performance of its Commodities and Global Markets (GCM) segment.

This was the ‘standout feature’ for the broker, given the segment delivered a 60% year on year growth in net profit after tax (NPAT) contribution.

As commodity markets continue to run hot, alongside Macquarie’s active portfolio management style, the broker expects the bank to continue growing over the coming periods.

This bodes in well for the company’s share price, according to the broker.

Specifically, JP Morgan expects Macquarie to achieve approximately 18% NPAT growth in FY22, calling for $3.56 billion at the bottom line for the bank this financial year.

Looking further ahead, it sees Macqaurie’s “annuity divisions driving strong medium-term growth, with MAM well placed to benefit from structural demand for alternative asset classes”.

It also reckons that Macquarie Investment Management (MIM) is poised to benefit from the Waddell & Reed acquisition.

At the same time, it believes the bank’s Banking & Financial Services (BFS) division has “potential to double the size of the Australian mortgage book over the next three to four years”.

Finally, the broker reckons that growth should be “well supported by the significant capital into all operating divisions that occurred in 2HFY21”.

Not only that, it forecasts a return on equity (ROE) of 15-16% in years FY22-24, meaning the bank’s “valuation looks attractive”, according to the note.

As such, it has a price target of $207 on Macquarie shares, implying an upside potential of more than $6 a share on the current market price.

Macquarie shares have climbed almost 54% in the last 12 months after rallying 45% this year to date.

The post Here’s why JP Morgan sees more growth in Macquarie (ASX:MQG) shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Westpac sinks, Macquarie raises $1.5bn
• Can the Macquarie (ASX:MQG) share price break new highs over $200?

The author Zach Bristow has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Eclipx Group Ltd (ASX: ECX) share price is flying out of the gates on Wednesday. The strong price appreciation comes after the fleet management and salary packaging company reported its full-year results for FY21.

At the time of writing, the company’s shares are 4.1% higher to $2.54. However, more impressively, Eclipx shares reached an intraday high of $2.72 (an 11.5% jump) soon after the commencement of trade today. It appears the initial enthusiasm has partially tempered as investors absorb the information.

Let’s inspect the full-year results for ourselves and see what kind of year it was for Eclipx.

A strong year lifts the Eclipx share price

• Revenue from operations down 3.9% year on year to $648.06 million
• Like-for-like earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) up 63% to $143.4 million
• New business writings increased 2% to $644 million
• Cash net profit after tax and amortisation surged 156.3% year on year to $86.15 million
• Net corporate debt decreased 80% compared to FY20 to $20 million
• Existing share buyback of $40 million extended to $56 million

What happened during the financial year?

Despite supply constraints on new vehicles, Eclipx managed to deliver a full year of growth in many regards. The company’s profitability during the period is eye-catching, to say the least.

An impressive 156.3% increase in cash earnings during the year was thanks to a combination of factors. Firstly, margin expansion on its revenue resulted in Eclipx realising an increased EBITDA. Strong end-of-lease income was experienced due to elevated profits per unit.

Secondly, the company took a disciplined approach to its capital in FY21. By reducing its property footprint, Eclipx lowered its depreciation costs. Likewise, a substantial slashing in corporate debt – from $99 million to $20 million – reduced interest payments.

Accounting for these adjustments, the fleet management company booked $86.1 million in cash profits. This achievement is significant considering its earnings had not previously surpassed $63 million since listing in 2015. Such a milestone could explain the improved sentiment for the Eclipx share price today.

As a result, management has decided to reward shareholders with its record earnings. The $40 million buyback program currently running will be increased to $56 million, reflecting 65% of FY21 net profit after tax and amortisation.

During the period, Eclipx booked $644 million in new business writings (NBW) and orders. While the second half experienced a lift in NBW, the company is yet to return to pre-COVID-19 levels.

What is the outlook?

The company noted it expects a continuation in the constrained supply for new vehicles. Admittedly, this would also constrain Eclipx’s NBW.

However, the group is positive about the future, boasting a strong order pipeline and recent tender wins.

The Eclipx share price is up 38.2% year to date. Based on the cash earnings of FY21, the company is now trading on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of ~9.4 times.

The post Eclipx (ASX:ECX) share price leaps on 156% increase in cash profits appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• AMP (ASX:AMP) share price leaps 9% on life insurance sale
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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) share price is up another 2% today, meaning its shares have risen by 9% this week already.

Goodman is a global property group. It owns, develops and manages industrial real estate including logistics and industrial facilities, warehouses and business parks.

Yesterday, the real estate business released its quarterly update for the first three months of FY22.

Quarterly update

Goodman said that its first quarter was the result of the deliberate positioning of its portfolio over the last decade to adapt to and leverage the changes in the digital economy, are now being realised. Customer demand for high-quality properties close to consumers has never been greater, according to Goodman.

The business is experiencing rental growth, increased development activity, stronger than expected performance from its partnerships and generally higher levels of profitability, leading to upgraded earnings guidance for FY22.

Goodman outlined some of the key highlights from the quarter. Its total assets under development (AUM) increased from $57.9 billion to $62 billion over the three months. That growth was driven by “strong” revaluation gains, development completions and net acquisitions. AUM growth can help the Goodman share price.

It also saw 3.2% of like for like net property income (NPI) growth in its managed partnerships. Goodman said that underlying property fundamentals remain strong globally. Management stated that the growth in demand is driving higher utilisation of space as customers seek to improve their supply chains. The occupancy rate remained “high” at 98.4% with the portfolio having a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 4.7 years.

Goodman continues to have a large pipeline of work. It had $12.7 billion of development work in progress (WIP).

All of the above highlights allowed the business to increase its earnings guidance for FY22 with operating earnings per share (EPS) now expected to grow by more than 15%.

What is driving the demand for Goodman properties?

Goodman said that the significant level of customer demand, combined with supply restrictions in its markets, is creating a significant shortage of available space. It’s executing on its strategy, focusing on infill markets to deliver sustainable opportunities for customers and investors, while securing cashflow growth for the long-term.

This could continue to be influential for the Goodman share price.

Greg Goodman, the CEO of Goodman Group, said:

High utilisation of space, barriers to entry and limited supply in our markets are underpinning occupancy and cash flow growth in our portfolio, with strong rental growth occurring globally. We remain focused on regeneration of existing land and buildings in our portfolio, supporting future development work and reducing our impact on the environment.

Goodman says that it’s well positioned financially, with significant liquidity and low gearing. It has the ability to grow development activity and pursue select investment opportunities.

It’s expecting AUM to continue growing to around $70 billion by June 2022.

Goodman noted that COVID-related disruptions in FY22 have been managed in such a way that they have had less impact on the full year projections than it had initially assumed. This combines with the strength of its development projects, leasing success and stronger-than-expected performance from its partnerships.

The broker Credit Suisse thinks that the Goodman share price is a buy, with a price target of $25.01, which thinks FY22 could be might even better than expected.

The post Why is the Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) share price up 9% so far this week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Goodman (ASX:GMG) share price storms 5% higher on earnings guidance upgrade

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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As it turns out, not too many ASX shares enjoyed a great month over October. The broad S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went backwards by around 0.1% over the month just gone, with ASX resources and banking shares dragging on the ASX 200. One ASX 200 share that was particularly disappointing for investors though was the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price.

Zip shares certainly had a month to forget. This buy now, pay later (BNPL) share started October at a price of $7.06 a share. But it ended up finishing the month at just $6.50 last Friday. That’s a slide of 7.93%. Ouch.

So what went so wrong for Zip over October?

Zip share price falls despite record quarterly update

Well, the centrepiece of Zip’s month was the first quarter update the company posted on 18 October. In this update, Zip told the markets that it managed to bring in a record quarterly revenue of $126.8 million, up 89% year on year. It’s quarterly transaction volume also broke records, coming in at $1.9 billion, up 101% year on year.

The company now has a customer base of 8 million, up 82%. While the number of merchants using its platform also continues to skyrocket, hitting 55,200 over the quarter, up 71%.

Despite an initial share price pop of roughly 5% when this update was released, investor sentiment cooled off very quickly in the days that followed. By Wednesday last week, the company was back below where its share price was on the day before this quarterly update was released.

Brokers and short sellers send some tough love for BNPL

This may have been spurred by some negative broker coverage of Zip that week. As my Fool colleague James covered last Tuesday, broker UBS evidently wasn’t impressed with Zip’s update. That’s given it retained a ‘sell’ rating on Zip shares with a 12-month share price target of $5.40. That implies a potential 12-month downside of close to 15% on today’s pricing. UBS pointed out that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is planning on removing the ‘no surcharge rule’ for BNPL products. The broker reckons this is an “incremental negative” for Zip Co.

As we covered last month, the RBA has indeed changed its tune on the no surcharge rules. These prevent retailers from directly passing on the higher transaction costs of BNPL payment methods to consumers. The RBA now won’t stand in the way of merchants wanting to apply a surcharge to BNPL transactions if they so wish. This, the RBA believes, will “promote competition and efficiency in the Australian payments system”.

These factors have certainly not hindered many investors’ scepticism of Zip Co. As the Fool covered last week, Zip shares remained in the top 10 most shorted ASX shares on the market.

All of these factors may have assisted in making Zip’s October one to forget. Investors in this buy now, pay later company will no doubt be hoping for a better November.

At the current Zip Co share price of $6.29, this company has a market capitalisation of $3.6 billion.

The post Why did the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price have such a lousy month in October? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Bitcoin (CRYTPO: BTC) price put in a tremendous show in October, hitting a new all-time high of US$66,930 (AU$90,445) on 20 October.

Since then, the Bitcoin price has retraced 5.9%, currently trading for US$62,966.

So, a bit of a loss for crypto investors who bought right at the high and are looking to sell today. Or, as is becoming more common, perhaps buying something with their digital currency today.

Over the longer-term

As for investors who bought 8 years ago and held on? Well, you likely won’t hear them complaining.

On 5 July, 2013, the Bitcoin price stood at US$66, according to data from CoinMarketCap. That works out to a gain of 95,993% at today’s prices.

Getting back to October…

What drove the Bitcoin price gains in October?

On 1 October, the Bitcoin price was right at US$42,914. By the time Halloween festivities wound down on 31 October, Bitcoin was trading for US$60,699. That’s a gain of more than 41% for the month.

What helped propel the Bitcoin price higher in October?

While many factors were at play, the biggest tailwind for the token last month looks to be the launch of the first (and later in October the second) US futures-based Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF).

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE: BITO) began trading in US markets on Tuesday 19 October, the first Bitcoin linked ETF off the rank. (Full details here.)

Commenting on the launch, Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares said at the time:

We are really excited to bring BITO, the first Bitcoin-linked ETF, to investors as an important opportunity for them conveniently to invest in Bitcoin in their regular brokerage account. This is going to allow many people who have been waiting for an easy way to do this and a robust way to do this to now be involved and have it in their portfolios.

While that was in the latter half of the month, rumours that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler was poised to greenlight the ETFs were widely circulating early in October. Gensler had said that crypto investors should receive the same levels of safety measures as traditional share market investors.

As for November, today’s Bitcoin price action (it’s up 4.2% in 24 hours) likely wasn’t hurt by the announcement from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), which revealed it will begin offering crypto services to its customers.

The post Why did the Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) price have such a great month in October? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price has been the best performer on the ASX 200 on Wednesday.

In early afternoon trade, the financial services company’s shares are up 9% to $1.17.

Why is the AMP share price storming higher?

Investors have been bidding the AMP share price higher today following the release of a divestment announcement.

That announcement reveals that the company has agreed a deal with Resolution Life Group for its remaining 19.13% stake in Resolution Life Australasia (RLA).

According to the release, AMP will sell the stake to Resolution Life Group for a consideration of $524 million. Though, as part of the agreement, AMP and RLA have agreed to settle a number of post-completion adjustments and certain claims. This resulted in a net payment of $141 million to RLA from AMP.

And while this will mean an additional one-off expense of approximately $65 million in FY 2021, the deal ultimately strengthens AMP’s available capital by approximately $459 million.

Management notes that this provides the company with further flexibility ahead of its planned demerger of AMP Capital’s Private Markets business. That demerger is expected to complete in 2022. It will see the investment business pivot to become a separate, global private market investment manager and compete alongside some of the largest managers in the space.

AMP’s Chief Executive, Alexis George, commented: “This divestment brings to a close our long and proud involvement in life insurance in Australia and New Zealand. It enables us to realise capital to further strengthen our balance sheet ahead of our demerger and continue supporting our businesses.”

“The separation of our businesses is progressing well and will continue until mid-next year as planned. We will continue to provide transitional services to RLA, as agreed, and will have a shared customer and adviser connection into the future,” she added.

The AMP share price is down 26% in 2021 despite today’s strong gain.

The post AMP (ASX:AMP) share price leaps 9% on life insurance sale appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The FBR Ltd (ASX: FBR) share price is taking off on Wednesday after the company announced its bricklaying robot could soon be employed in Mexico.

Following a successful pilot program, the company has signed a term sheet with one of Mexico’s largest homebuilders, GP Vivienda. The agreement will see FBR’s Hadrian X construction robot building up to 5,000 homes.

The news has seemingly excited the market. At the time of writing, the FBR share price is 5 cents, 25% higher than its previous closing price.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news from the construction robotics company.

Here’s what’s boosting the FBR share price today

The FBR share price is rocketing higher on news the company will be supplying its ‘wall-as-a-service’ technology to a major homebuilder.

FBR will supply wall-as-a-service for between 2,000 and 5,000 homes, subject to several factors, including market conditions and GP Vivienda’s pipeline.

According to FBR, wall-as-a-service marks a shift from selling bricks and bricklaying labour separately. Instead, the company’s wall-as-a-service entity supplies the blocks and robotically constructs walls onsite using digital architectural plans.

The company states its wall-as-a-service will improve speed, accuracy, and safety, as well as reducing waste when constructing brickwork.

The wall-as-a-service will be priced to allow each home to be “commercially competitive”.

Before the program begins, the companies will create a timeline to deploy the bricklaying robot at particular sites. Each site will see it building at least 100 homes.  

The only binding part of the term sheet is its 24-month exclusivity period. The rest of the term sheet will remain non-binding until formal documentation and numerous milestones are complete.

Such milestones include confirmation FBR’s Hadrian X and Fastbrick Wall System are compliant with Mexico’s regulations and the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The companies will also create a collaborative commercial model and undergo a pilot building program of 20 homes.

FBR’s managing director and CEO, Mike Pivac, commented on the news driving the company’s share price today, saying:

The volume of work contemplated under the term sheet will give us a great start from which to grow our business in North America, as there will be a strong pipeline of work to complete as soon as we deploy.

The post Here’s why the FBR (ASX:FBR) share price is leaping 25% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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ASX shares keep on giving to investors despite a plethora of negative catalysts circling global financial markets.

After a choppy month or so, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has warded off inflationary pressures, panic around bond yields and economic downturn, and found form once again.

It has rebounded off its low of 7,185 points on 1 October to climb another 3.43% to 7,431.5 points at the time of writing.

And these three ASX shares have been riding the wave today, with each posting new single-year highs in early trading.

Ramsay Healthcare (ASX: RHC)

Shares in global hospital giant Ramsay Healthcare have accelerated in almost vertical fashion from mid-October to post a new 52-week high today.

At the time of writing, the Ramsay Healthcare share price was trading up around 1.2% at $72.71 but has climbed more than 10% since bouncing off a low of $65.94 last month.

Investors have been piling into Ramsay shares as the NSW and Victorian state governments ease COVID-19 restrictions that were impacting hospital patient turnover.

After it was confirmed that surgical restrictions were eased last month, the trend was set for the healthcare giant.

As such, Ramsay shareholders have enjoyed another 3% in gains to start November and will no doubt be happy after securing a new yearly high today.

Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL)

Shares in global gaming specialist Aristocrat also reached new single-year highs today, hitting an intraday high of $49.59 in early trading.

At the time of writing, Aristocrat shares were changing hands at $49.40 apiece, a further 2.49% gain from the open.

Investors have been bidding up the company’s share price after a slew of market updates with the company aggressively expanding its footprint in Australia and abroad.

For instance, late last month, Aristocrat confirmed it had successfully completed an entitlement offer to raise approximately $1.3 billion via an institutional placement.

The funds will be used in the acquisition of London-listed gambling software and content supplier Playtech, a $5 billion company that reported revenue of $2.3 billion and EBITDA of $586 million in FY19.

Brokers were quick to jump on the case, with investment firm Morgans immediately increasing its price target on Aristocrat shares to $52.90.

This implies a further upside potential of around 8% from the current market price.

Computershare Ltd (ASX: CPU)

Shares in financial administration company Computershare also nudged past their 52-week high in early trading today. The Computershare share price is now at $19.44 after tipping a high of $19.51 earlier in the session.

Despite no market-sensitive information out of Computershare’s camp in the last month, investors were still happy to acquire a position in the company and send its shares 7% higher in that time.

Curiously, the company’s share price retreated in September, corresponding with the announcement its founder Chris Morris will leave the board effective from 11 November.

His replacement is John Nendick, an expert in financial modelling and accounting, according to Computershare.

It seems investors were impressed by the company’s swift response in finding a suitable candidate to take Morris’ position on the board.

And with Morris’ departure just a week away, investors have maintained the upward trajectory in Computershare’s share price today.

Bringing it all together, these three ASX shares are each compounding returns this week, which is sure to be of great pleasure to shareholders.

The post These three ASX shares smashed 52-week highs today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These were the best performing ASX healthcare shares in October
• 3 fantastic ASX shares that could be buys in November
• Why is the Aristocrat (ASX:ALL) share price dipping on Monday?
• Why AMP, Aristocrat, Brainchip, and Healius shares are racing higher
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Aristocrat hits record high, Flight Centre sinks

The author Zach Bristow has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Ramsay Health Care Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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At lunch on Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on track to record a very strong gain. The benchmark index is currently up 1.4% to 7,425.4 points.

Here’s what is happening on the ASX 200 today:

CBA enters crypto market

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is pushing higher today amid improving investor sentiment. Also potentially giving the banking giant’s shares a boost was news that it is entering the crypto market. CBA will offer customers the ability to buy, sell and hold crypto assets, directly through the CommBank app. The pilot will start in the coming weeks, with CBA intending to progressively rollout more features to more customers in 2022.

AMP divestment

The AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price is racing higher today after announcing the divestment of its 19.13% equity interest in Resolution Life Australasia (RLA). AMP has agreed to sell the stake to Resolution Life Group for a consideration of $524 million. The sale of the RLA holding will complete AMP’s exit from its former life insurance and mature business, AMP Life, which it sold to Resolution Life in 2020 for a total consideration of $3 billion. Management notes that the sale provides further flexibility ahead of its planned demerger of AMP Capital’s Private Markets business.

Lithium miners charge higher

One area of the market that is performing particularly positively on Wednesday is the lithium sector. The shares of Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) are among the best performers, rising strongly today. Investors appear optimistic that clean energy investment will be given a major boost at the COP26 meeting this week.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Wednesday has been the AMP share price with an 8% gain. This follows its divestment update. The worst performer has been the Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) share price with a modest decline of just over 1%. This is despite there being no news out of the casino and resorts operator.

The post ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: CBA enters crypto market, AMP jumps appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• CBA (ASX:CBA) just became the first Aussie bank to offer Bitcoin and crypto services
• Why is the Northern Star (ASX:NST) share price having such a lousy week?
• AMP (ASX:AMP) share price on watch following $500m divestment
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Orocobre Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) is breaking new virtual ground.

This morning, CBA announced it will offer crypto services to its customers.

In an Australian first, the bank’s customers will be able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies via CommBank’s app. This will include trading and holding Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

CBA reported that it is partnering with global crypto exchange Gemini and leading blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. Gemini was founded by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The bank intends to commence the pilot program within weeks and will then introduce additional features next year. Atop Bitcoin and Ethereum, CommBank said customers will have access to up to 10 selected cryptos. This will include Bitcoin Cash (CRYPTO: BCH) and Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC).

What did CBA management say?

Commenting on the crypto services rollout, CBA CEO Matt Comyn said:

The emergence and growing demand for digital currencies from customers creates both challenges and opportunities for the financial services sector, which has seen a significant number of new players and business models innovating in this area.

We believe we can play an important role in crypto to address what’s clearly a growing customer need and provide capability, security and confidence in a crypto trading platform.

A word from Gemini and Chainalysis

Gemini’s global head of business development, Dave Abner, added:

We are proud to be providing exchange and custody services to CBA as they begin to unlock access to cryptocurrency investments for many Australians.

The exponential growth of digital assets internationally, coupled with Gemini’s institutional-grade security and proactive regulatory approach, positions this partnership to set a new standard for banks and financial platforms in Australia and across the globe.

Furthermore, Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager noted that:

Financial institutions like CBA play an integral role in growing cryptocurrency adoption safely.

Meanwhile, on the topic of safety, CBA’s Matt Comyn said:

Customers have expressed concern regarding some of the crypto services in market today, including the friction of using third party exchanges, the risk of fraud, and the lack of trust in some new providers.

This is why we see this as an opportunity to bring a trusted and secure experience for our customers.

The post CBA (ASX:CBA) just became the first Aussie bank to offer Bitcoin and crypto services appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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