CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 6 Jun 2025

Pets & Ownership Costs

“Pet care is a large and growing market in Australia. There are an estimated 7 million households that own almost 29 million pets, and the number of insured pets is currently experiencing double-digit growth, reflecting the growing awareness of veterinary costs and a shift toward pet health and wellness services." Jon Davey, CEO, Tyro Payments

Advertising

“Eventually, if you’ve been in an industry long enough, you stop chasing validation and start chasing meaning.” David Droga, CEO, Accenture Song [major tech/creative division within Accenture]

Mining

“Mining delivers the highest labour productivity of any sector in the economy. That’s the result of sustained investment, cutting-edge technology, and a highly skilled workforce – it’s a strength Australia should be building on." Tania Constable, CEO, Minerals Council of Australia

Airlines & Loyalty Programs

“The biggest positive driver is the price of jet fuel which has fallen 13% compared with 2024 and 1% below previous estimates. Moreover, we anticipate airlines flying more people and more cargo in 2025 than they did in 2024, even if previous demand projections have been dented by trade tensions and falls in consumer confidence." Willie Walsh, Director General, International Air Transport Association

“Around two-thirds of all points earned are earned on the ground… and a big part of those points are earned through retail. There is absolutely an undeniable appetite for points in retail.” Andrew Glance, CEO, Qantas Loyalty

Financial Advice

“Advice is one of the biggest unsolved challenges in our space. We haven’t seen anyone truly crack the nut on it yet, but we think we’re pretty close. Our goal is to make it accessible, understandable, and affordable for the mass market.” John Winders, CEO, Superhero [retail superannuation fund operator]

International Students & Education Policy

"Policy uncertainty and negative rhetoric continues, while economic uncertainty has increased. The visa data shows that for the first three quarters of FY25 aggregate international student volumes to the key four IDP destinations [UK, USA, Canada & Australia] are down 28% versus the same period last year." Market Statement, IDP Education Ltd

AI & Cybersecurity Threats

“At their core, every AI agent represents a unique superhuman identity, necessitating visibility, control and protection for every single agent…Simply put, AI agents dramatically increase the size, severity and speed of the enterprise attack surface.  Size, more agents everywhere, severity, everything is connected faster than it can be contained. Speed, autonomous agents move at machine speed. This is the new attack surface, and it's an adversary's paradise.” George Kurtz, CEO, CrowdStrike Holdings Inc [major cybersecurity software company]

Hotel Chains

“I mean, the ultimate litmus as to whether you've got a brand that's working or not is do you have a pipeline that's growing and [property] developers that are continuing to sign up with you.” Mark Hoplamazian, CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corp.

Luxury Spending

“So there's no question that the upper end of the chain scale has been outperforming, has been growing the fastest, is the most healthy at this point, with double-digit growth in the first quarter in luxury. There's just a lot of momentum at that higher price point. And as you go down the chain scale, it successively goes down lower and lower and lower.” Mark Hoplamazian, CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corp.

Major Banks Vs SME Banks

“Our raison d'être [reason for being] back in 2016 was to solve what we believe was a market failure in the provision of credit to SMEs, a problem the market couldn't solve for itself. The major banks were and continue to be on a path-dependent journey of industrialisation. That cannot be reversed. Cost cutting and driving higher returns is a fact of life at a major bank.” Chris Bayliss, CEO, Judo Bank Holdings Ltd

Global Construction Labour Shortages

“You hear a lot of contractors tell you, "I would do more work if I could get more people." That's a pretty common message. And that message has been very consistent.” Anthony Fassino, President, Caterpillar Inc.

Cooking

“Consumers continue to cook at home and focus their spending on products that help them stretch their food budgets…the broth category has grown since 2020 and more recently further accelerated, fuelled by the uptick in cooking behaviour, making our broth business a continued bright spot within the portfolio.” Mick Beekhuizen, CEO, The Campbell’s Company

Health & Fitness

“Because what we know is that fitness is probably some of the best medicine that you can give someone, right?...In many cases, when we talk about things like issues with mental health, exercise is more effective in most cases than any drugs that are out there and a lot more cost effective.” Peter Stern, CEO, Peleton Interactive Inc.

Corporate Spending

“We've also seen a tremendous amount of pressure on our teams from corporates that are feeling the stress of a rapidly changing and volatile tariff environment.” Stephen Hasker, CEO, Thomson Reuters Corp.