IN BRIEF

REVIEW FKP Property has provided an update on its strategic review of its retirement operating model. FKP chief executive Peter Brown said yesterday that the preliminary findings indicated the group might pursue a demerger to separate its retirement and development/trust businesses, subject to "a further evaluation of the issues, costs and benefits to FKP's security holders and continuing assessment of prevailing economic and capital market conditions". He said there were opportunities to further integrate health services with accommodation in its retirement portfolio. "FKP expects to grow its existing retirement development pipeline to generate stronger cash flows from

this business," he said. Further

details would be provided at its full-year result in August.

BANKING Banks' competition for Australian deposits means many savers have had their rates reduced by less than the falls in mortgage rates since the Reserve Bank began cutting in October. The big four banks have sliced an average 97 basis points from their standard variable lending rates, according to calculations based on data provided by RateCity. In that time, the central bank has lopped 125 basis points (1.25 percentage points) from its target cash rate. But the average interest rate on a $50,000, one-year term deposit at a big-four bank has come down only 60 basis points over the same period less than half the RBA's reduction.

INFRASTRUCTURE A report commissioned by federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese says people need to realise they might have to pay for better infrastructure. The report says there is no silver bullet to deal with the backlog and Australia must embrace bold changes to find new opportunities to fund projects. It says user charges such as tolls are a key step to increasing the funding and could also reduce traffic congestion and bottlenecks. The report also said the community needed to learn that there was no such thing as a free lunch.

PETROLEUM Oil's share of world energy demand will decline to 28 per cent in 2035 from 34 per cent in 2010, though it will remain the largest single source of energy, according to OPEC secretary-general Abdalla El-Badri. He said

future demand for oil could be met. Overall energy demand would expand by

51 per cent through 2035, Mr El-Badri, a former Libyan energy minister, said in a speech at the OPEC international seminar, a day before the Organisation of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries meets to determine output levels. OPEC

and consuming nations should continue

to work to minimise volatility through speculation in the oil market, he said.