Highlights this week include NAB’s plan to make a dent in the online trading market, Westpac’s strategic shift to WM, and a curious court case opposing BoQ to some of its former franchisees. iSelect’s plan for an IPO within the next 12 months is also a reminder of the potential disruption from aggregators in General Insurance and Life.
On the macro economic front equal “bear” and “bull” commentaries still leave the jury out on the exact nature of the coming “correction” for Australia. Whilst Japan decided to take no chances with the BoJ joining the Fed and the ECB in quantitative easing measures.

A bit of a different ‘engineering’ snapshot this week. Almost everything you always wanted to know about ‘Additive Manufacturing – 3D Printing’ (but were afraid to ask):

A technology that has been used in manufacturing prototyping and design for decades and which is getting close to a breakthrough in the mainstream; to the point that commentators increasingly believe that 2012 could be “the year of 3D printing”. Progress in polymer and especially metal 3D printing means that it could soon disrupt traditional manufacturing, including car and home repairs. Hence the challenge for insurers to prepare for it…

As per usual, sources are curated in Pearltrees: http://pear.ly/bEhEP