Joyce Moullakis
Joyce Moullakis follows the money through the banking system, focusing on how capital moves between large institutions, dealmakers and new asset classes, and what that means for financial risk and regulation. She is an associate editor and investment banking journalist at the Australian Financial Review, writing across company news, policy issues, investment banking, private equity and financial services. Her coverage combines detailed reporting on individual transactions with close attention to how banks, investors and policymakers respond to shifts in markets and the broader economy.
Investment banking and dealmaking
Investment banking and capital market activity sit at the centre of Moullakis’s work.
She has a long-running focus on banking and finance, specialising in investment banking, private equity and financial services. Her reporting examines the strategies of investment banks and brokers, including how they position themselves in changing markets and where they see value in listed and private companies.
Her articles include scrutiny of investor behaviour and trading patterns, such as coverage of Blue Ocean Equities and what its buying activity signals for particular stocks and sectors. She also reports on movements of advisers and teams between wealth management firms, using stories about Macquarie Private Wealth advisers moving to rival businesses to explore the competitive dynamics in private wealth and corporate advisory. These pieces typically combine deal details, commentary from market participants and context on how shifts in personnel and capital affect clients and counterparties.
Moullakis extends this deal-focused lens to emerging infrastructure assets, including data centres, where she has reported on Macquarie’s next data centre transactions and the rise of new competitors such as NEO in the data centre boom. In these stories she tracks who is financing large-scale digital infrastructure, how the deal structures are arranged and what the entry of new players means for incumbent banks and investment managers.
Across this strand of work, the emphasis is on concrete transaction terms, the institutions involved and the commercial consequences, rather than commentary or market colour.
Business banking, mortgage brokers and regulation
Moullakis’s coverage of business banking focuses on risk, compliance and the interface between banks, intermediaries and regulators. Her reporting on the development of a register of problematic mortgage brokers, involving major banks and the tax office, illustrates a recurring interest in how institutions respond when distribution channels create misconduct or credit quality concerns.
She treats regulatory initiatives as business stories, looking at how they change incentives for lenders, brokers and their clients rather than presenting them only as policy announcements.
Her involvement in AFR’s Banking Summit, including moderating business banking panels with senior executives from major banks and challengers, reinforces that focus on the way banks serve business customers and manage risk in their portfolios. From this vantage point she engages with topics such as credit standards, small and medium enterprise lending, and the competitive position of specialist lenders, using executive discussions to inform and test her reporting on banking strategy and regulation. When she writes about tax authorities, registries or compliance frameworks, it is typically in the context of how they alter the day-to-day practices of financial institutions and intermediaries, and what that means for customers and shareholders.
Financial services, infrastructure and energy investment
Beyond core banking, Moullakis writes across the wider financial services industry, including asset management and outsourced chief investment office arrangements. Her work on outsourced investment management examines why firms hand responsibility for portfolio construction and risk oversight to external providers, and how these structures affect governance, fees and performance for institutional and wholesale clients.
She connects these stories to broader themes of capital allocation and the search for yield, showing how different parts of the financial system respond to changing economic conditions.
Her infrastructure and energy-related coverage is supported by her role in AFR’s Energy & Climate Summit, where she moderates discussions on the global investment outlook and what investors are backing in clean energy and transition assets. She also appears at AFR’s Asia Summit and Business Summit, framing conversations with bank CEOs and investors on regional growth, funding conditions and the flow of capital into sectors such as infrastructure, technology and resources.
These engagements feed into reporting that looks at the financing of energy projects, digital infrastructure and other long-duration assets, focusing on who is providing capital, how risk is shared and how policy settings influence investment decisions.
Policy, summits and executive access
Moullakis operates at the point where financial policy meets boardroom decision-making. She regularly appears as an associate editor at AFR-branded summits and events, including the Business Summit, Banking Summit, Insurance Summit and Energy & Climate Summit. In these roles she conducts in-depth conversations and Q&A sessions with senior bank executives, asset managers, policymakers and ministers, such as her session with the Assistant Minister for Financial Services at the Financial Review Insurance Summit.
This event work reflects and informs her reporting style: she prioritises direct engagement with decision-makers and uses those discussions to probe how banks and investors interpret new regulations, market volatility and geopolitical shifts.
Her coverage of company news and policy issues is grounded in that executive access, translating high-level strategy and regulatory debate into specific implications for financial institutions, intermediaries and markets. The result is a body of work that treats banking and finance as an interconnected system, where changes in regulation, technology and investor appetite are traced through to deals, balance sheets and client outcomes.
4 more finance journalists.
Aaron Bell
Aaron Bell stands out for turning broker research and complex market commentary into clear stories for everyday investors. He writes about the Australian share market as a journalist for The Motley Fool Australia and also works as a freelance journalist and editor focused on financial topics and the Australian economy. His beat covers ASX-listed companies and exchange-traded funds. He writes on broker recommendations, valuation changes, price targets, upside forecasts, earnings results, guidance, and share price reactions. He also covers thematic and emerging markets ETFs, NASDAQ-focused funds, and sectors such as space-related industries. In his reporting, he uses numbers, rating changes, and target prices to explain risk, reward, and what has changed in the business.
Adam McCleery
Adam McCleery tracks the money and deals shaping advertising and media agencies. He is a journalist at AdNews, covering agency pitches, account moves, media buying decisions, budgets, contracts and settlements. His beat sits between finance, media and marketing, with a focus on advertiser confidence, commercial outcomes and the pressures facing agencies, brands and media owners. He reports on television, streaming, subscription models and platform strategies, as well as artificial intelligence, data, privacy and ad technology. His past work spans print, digital and business-to-business titles. He writes in a straightforward, deal-driven style. He follows how brands review, consolidate or shift agency relationships, and how pricing, measurement, fragmentation, policy and economic conditions affect spending, investment, risk and the value of agency services.
Adelaide Miller
Adelaide Miller is an award-winning national business reporter at the ABC who stands out for linking markets coverage with accountability reporting on how finance, regulation and corporate decisions affect workers, consumers and small businesses. She covers superannuation, small business obligations, the ASX, global indices, inflation, government debt, investor sentiment, cryptocurrency, corporate conduct, mortgage stress, and consumer impact. She reports on the gap between legislative intent and on-the-ground practice, and she often uses data, live markets context, and direct reporting from affected people. Her background includes ABC Investigations, Background Briefing, and Four Corners. She also has reported on AI-driven political campaigning, Telstra’s Senate inquiry scrutiny, family law, and a personal essay on her grandmother’s dementia. She works across TV, radio, online, and podcast formats.
Adeshola Ore
Adeshola Ore reports on finance and public policy through their effects on everyday life. They are a reporter at the Guardian, covering tax debates, public spending, institutional policy and the communities shaped by them. Their beat also includes politics, rights, social equity, climate, migration, Indigenous policy, agriculture, food safety and public health. Notable reporting has covered bird flu and egg supplies, catastrophic floods, death cap mushroom poisonings, refugee communities, university misconduct and place-naming rules in Tasmania. Earlier work included global climate conferences, international affairs and social policy. Ore reports through live political coverage, ground-level interviews, documents and hearings. They write news features and explainers that clarify complex rules, risks and rights. They also contribute to the Guardian’s daily news podcast, bringing field reporting and interviews with affected communities into wider discussions of politics and policy.