The International Monetary Fund has backed the Turnbull government's pursuit of a lower corporate tax rate, but has again called for a broader tax reform package.

The government's aim to reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent would grow the economy by up to one per cent but only when fully implemented in a decade's time, according to the Treasury.

But he said there are inefficiencies in the current taxation system, with corporate and personal taxes relatively high, while land and consumption are taxed relatively low.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the report reinforced the need for Australia to maintain its international competitiveness.

Two years ago, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ditched a plan to raise the GST as a funding mechanism for broad-brush tax cuts because modelling showed it would lift growth by just 0.3 per cent.

Dr Helbling told reporters via a teleconference that moving to a land tax from stamp duty would be more efficient and improve the functioning of the housing market.

The IMF also believes lower capital gains discounts and limits to negative gearing for investors are "desirable".

"Mr Morrison has not only failed millions of young Australians when it comes to adequately dealing with housing affordability, but he has also overseen an Australian economy and housing market that is more vulnerable to future economic shocks," Mr Bowen said in a statement.

An Australian university is banking on Blockchain, the technology behind the lucrative yet volatile cryptocurrency industry, by launching a nation-first course in the emerging sector.

"Blockchain is now becoming a core part of contemporary digital literacy," Vice Chancellor Martin Bean said.

Blockchain is a decentralised, shared ledger that with the help of complicated cryptography records transactions in a verifiable, secure and permanent way.

The same principal applies to managing real money digitally, with banks slowly grasping Blockchain's potential benefits as a faster, inexpensive and autonomous system.

As demand presently outstrips supply in the US, there is a desperate need for more programmers in the growing industry predicted to be worth $176 billion by 2025, according to Gartner Research.

In 2017, the Australian government tipped in $2.57 million to help power a cutting-edge start-up project that could make peer-to-peer solar energy trading a reality.

ClearView Chief Investment Officer Justin McLaughlin addresses recent share market volatility, particularly in the US, and explains why market corrections occur.  

https://player.vimeo.com/video/254428516

Three of Australia's big four banks have begun rolling out their new $1 billion payment system that allows customers to transfer funds between rival institutions in near real-time.

"This will give consumers new levels of personalisation and innovation not seen before in Australia," Westpac general manager Di Challenor said.

Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, and National Australia Bank began limited use of the system on Tuesday, while ANZ is holding off while it undertakes further "rigorous testing" of the platform.

"The security of our customer data is paramount and we are committed to ensuring our customers have a safe experience," Ms Challenor said.

The lenders faced criticism on Monday's opening day of the industry royal commission when they said they would miss the deadline to hand over information on misconduct to commissioner Kenneth Hayne.

BPAY chief executive John Banfield said users will eventually be able to transfer money instantly via their phone as services and products become available on the platform.

Jessica Schlosser, Investment Analyst at ClearView

What to do when everyone else is doing it

A synchronised global expansion coupled with ultra-low interest rates created prime conditions for global equity investors in 2017. For the first full calendar year in history, US equities climbed higher month-on-month with the S&P 500 Index ending the year at its second highest point (the first being the dot.com boom). The MSCI China Index and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index also soared, returning 53 per cent and 34.8 per cent respectively for the year to December 31, 2017. Even Iranian bonds were oversubscribed.

The problem is that overvalued equity markets are nothing new and usually precipitate a correction or crash.

As economists and professional investors Benjamin Graham and David Dodd observed in their book Security Analysis, "it was only necessary to buy 'good' stocks, regardless of price, and then let nature take her upward course. The results of such a doctrine could not fail to be tragic".

Yet despite better economic tools and the benefit of hindsight, investors are still prone to following the 'herd' and making poor investment decisions. At this critical juncture, it's clear that more care must be taken to ensure history does not repeat itself.

A key contributor to current day valuations is the rise of index investing. When buying the index, investors ignore a company's valuation, debt levels, corporate governance, strategy and ability to grow earnings over the long-term.

The catch is that good managers are hard to find.

There is a general misconception that equities are guaranteed to increase wealth over the long-term.

The chart below shows the total returns from equities (MSCI World Index), and 10 year US government bonds.

It's also worth remembering that shares on paper don't represent net wealth or purchasing power over the long-term. According to Warren Buffet, it is the future stream of cashflow from owning shares that creates wealth, and the ideal holding period is "forever".

Making a good long term investment requires investors to pay fair value in order to reap the benefits of growth over time. As painful as this can be in the short-term, if the facts haven't changed, sometimes it's best to sit back, stick to a disciplined strategy and wave as fads pass by. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it right.