Everybody loves to hate banks. They even make TV commercials on hating banks.
Banks have been around for hundreds of years. Why?
Because they were found to be essential in the development & conduct of commerce & trade. And they are even more essential in this global economy.

Of course, unlike all other citizens, individual or corporate, they never put a foot wrong, right? Wrong of course. Some of the biggest in the world were found to be downright criminal in their behaviour.

But Australia's large banks have a pretty good history and I for one think they are unjustly vilified.
Take Westpac for instance. In 2013 it made a net profit of $6.8 billion. Who gets this profit?
Shareholders got $5.5 billion in dividends, the balance basically goes to retained earnings.
Who are these shareholders? In the main, you are if you belong to a super fund.
The largest 20 shareholders are companies acting as nominees, custodians, trustees. Who for?
In the main super funds, including union-run funds. Other major funds would be institutional investment funds on behalf of mums & dads, businesses & so on.

So, in other words, I put it to you that our banking system is an integral and valued part of our economic system and it is closely regulated.
You bash it if you want to. This bloke is not for bashing.

I agree Bogarde. But then again I am biased, in that I'm part of a banking family with 3 generations working for Westpac.

Rubbish Australian Banks won't support small business.

We gave them a government guarantee of depositors money and what did they do in return ? They snubbed small business and then hatched up a plan to blow up the housing bubble which is what caused the GFC in the first place.  Now they won't lend to small business. Instead they prefer to lend the punters $800,000 to buy a borer infested old weatherboard dump that you could buy in the USA for $50,000 at the most !! Go figure !!


Quote:

SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: Tomorrow is supposed to be judgment day on the future of Australia's banks, with the financial system Inquiry due to deliver its interim report to the Federal Government. There are great hopes among smaller financial institutions the inquiry will recommend action to end what they see as the unfair advantages the big four banks enjoy over their rivals. Greg Hoy reports. GREG HOY, REPORTER: CommBank, NAB, ANZ and Westpac - the big four banks had combined record profits of $27 billion last year, dominating the home loan market with 84 per cent of mortgages and 81 per cent of household deposits.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4045852.htm

The four pillars of trash banking !!

What the rubbish Australian banks could learn from the German Banks


Quote:

3. Availability of bank funding: The stock market and private equity is not as important in Germany as it has been in the US and the UK and a large element of the corporate funding required in Germany is delivered through the banking system. This funding, particularly to the mittelstand, is often provided through the Hausbank system where companies have a long-standing, largely exclusive banking arrangements with one-main bank that is often locally based and understands and supports the local market and economy. The banking system in Germany has been more understanding and supportive of the long term nature of the sector and the requirement for longer term funding. One of the differences in the German economic model seems to be the use of debit cards rather than credit cards which gives a better profile for bank funding and savings – giving the banks the ability to invest. Finally as manufacturing is a much more highly regarded sector in Germany banks (and other funders) have been more inclined to be supportive of what is a

http://www.bdo.uk.com/press/talk-shop/vorsprung-durch-manufacturing-what-can-uk-learn-germany-tom-lawton

Sir lastnail wrote on Jul 16^th, 2014 at 11:50am:

What the rubbish Australian banks could learn from the German Banks

Ya...Wir verfügen über Möglichkeiten, wie sie ihr Schwein Hund

bogarde73 wrote on Jul 16^th, 2014 at 11:21am:

Everybody loves to hate banks. They even make TV commercials on hating banks. Banks have been around for hundreds of years. Why? Because they were found to be essential in the development & conduct of commerce & trade. And they are even more essential in this global economy.

The GFC was a good example of what happens when Banks stop lending money. In Australia we escaped largely unscathed because we have a healthy and well regulated Banking sector.

One thing that a lot of people still resent though is that the banker cowboys who caused the GFC got off scott free and are still earning their 6 or 7 figure salaries. The average person however had to bear the brunt of the GFC and are still suffering today in the US and Europe.

So, is it the banking system that is good for us or the system that regulates the banking system that is good for us??

It's not an either/or question. Both are good for us. We can't survive in a modern economy without a healthy & prosperous banking system and we won't have that without good regulation, which we do have with APRA and the RBA.

bogarde73 wrote on Jul 16^th, 2014 at 11:21am:

Everybody loves to hate banks. They even make TV commercials on hating banks. Banks have been around for hundreds of years. Why? Because they were found to be essential in the development & conduct of commerce & trade. And they are even more essential in this global economy. Of course, unlike all other citizens, individual or corporate, they never put a foot wrong, right? Wrong of course. Some of the biggest in the world were found to be downright criminal in their behaviour. But Australia's large banks have a pretty good history and I for one think they are unjustly vilified. Take Westpac for instance. In 2013 it made a net profit of $6.8 billion. Who gets this profit? Shareholders got $5.5 billion in dividends, the balance basically goes to retained earnings. Who are these shareholders? In the main, you are if you belong to a super fund. The largest 20 shareholders are companies acting as nominees, custodians, trustees. Who for? In the main super funds, including union-run funds. Other major funds would be institutional investment funds on behalf of mums & dads, businesses & so on. So, in other words, I put it to you that our banking system is an integral and valued part of our economic system and it is closely regulated. You bash it if you want to. This bloke is not for bashing.

The success of the 'big 4' Aussie banks reflect the lack of diversity in banking and competition in general in Aussieland. Bash our nationalism first, not just what are some of it's manifestations, the banks and businesses themselves.