Thanks Will- you're welcome. HUM has indeed caused us a lot of...

Thanks Will- you're welcome.

HUM has indeed caused us a lot of grief in recent years, but I’m hopeful that the August results will justify a sustained improvement in the share price. Commercial is a real star but it’s been heavily subsidising the problem areas. HUM has made a lot of effort to improve the clarity of its reporting in the last year or two, so good and bad performance are more transparent.

We need to see progress on 3 fronts: finally killing off suspended products; at least some convincing reduction in Consumer’s very high cost/income ratio; and cutting back the very expensive headwind on the interest rate mismatch between its assets and liabilities. The last point is very important: apart from managing its credit risks, NET interest rate exposure is HUM’s biggest risk. It’s a complex matter but I feel HUM has been complacent about it, and was badly caught out after having 3 years of very predictable and soft RBA policy. I hope HUM will get more sophisticated in its Treasury management. HUM is painfully cheap at the moment, but it’s sorely tested investors’ faith and the lousy price is understandable after so many false dawns. I pray that the next dawn is the real one.