THE NEWS WRAP: No taxpayer bailout for Ford

The Federal Government has ruled out a taxpayer bailout of Ford Australia despite plans by the US car maker to cut 440 jobs in Victoria and reduce production by about a third from November.

Ford insists its new annual output of about 33,000 vehicles will be sustainable because it will match supply to demand.

The company has to make 30,000 cars a year to qualify for the government’s Automotive Transformation Scheme.

According to Ford Australia president and chief executive Bob Graziano, the company is committed to “continuing to produce vehicles in Australia” through to at least 2016.

Prepare for more Chinese tourists, operators told

Australian tourism operators are being told they need to prepare for big growth in Chinese tourism.

Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said that in the 12 months to May, the number of Chinese visitors to Australia was up 17% on the year before, while visitors from Europe were down almost 3%.

Ferguson said the “unsurprising” fall in European visitors was led by falls in the German and UK markets.

By contrast, all of the key Asian markets were up, led by China, with 577,000 visitors to Australia in the year to May, India up 4.6%, Indonesia up 7.2% and Japan up 7.1%.

CBA ramps up payments technology

The Commonwealth Bank will push ahead with the rollout of its high-tech Eftpos terminal next year, as it seeks to offer an edge in processing payments on behalf of business customers.

It will also mimic tech giant Apple in opening up its payments software to people looking to develop specialised apps that can be distributed to small and mid-sized businesses.

The move is part of CBA’s efforts to differentiate itself from its rivals through technology, with as much as $6 billion spent on upgrading its core banking system in recent years.

Overnight

The Australian dollar reached a six-week high on commentary from the US central bank.

At 7am, the Australian dollar was trading at US103.17 cents, its highest point since early May. It closed locally at US102.97 cents yesterday.