LOANS NEWS AND GUIDES

A Senate committee charged with looking at the Australian banking industry has issued a report which suggested that the Australian Government should maintain its Four Pillars policy, and not give approval for mergers proposed between the Big Four banking groups. The powerful Senate committee also suggested that parliament should intensify its scrutiny over competition in the retail banking market. The Senate committee, known as the economics reference committee, recommended that a unit be assigned either from within the Treasury or the prudential regulator to oversee the compliance of conditions that have been attached to merger approvals, and levy fines on those lenders that fail to comply. The 79 page report released on Wednesday included five policy initiative recommendations on all aspects of banking mergers, and examined the socio-economic impact of a number of recent controversial bank mergers, including last Octobers $2.1 billion acquisition of Bankwest by Commonwealth Bank , and Westpac’s $12 billion merger with St George . The committee also looked at what measures were in place to ensure that the Westpac and St George merger complied with the conditions that were attached to its approval, and what should be in place for future bank mergers. The report was also firm that Australia should remain committed to the current ban imposed on mergers between the Big Four banks. The committee also said it would prefer that bank mergers to be completely regulated by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) as with other industries

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Senate Maintains Stance On Ban On Big Four Banking Mergers