Cheers and tears over NAB Business Spectator
Home loan and business borrowers should be cheering the decision by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to block National Australia Bank from buying the Australian and New Zealand businesses of AXA Asia Pacific.
The competition regulator has clearly decided that the big banks are big enough. And it’s not about to let them get any bigger.
If anything, this view is held even more forcibly in Canberra. Indeed, had the ACCC given the NAB deal the green light, it’s entirely possible that Treasurer Wayne Swan would have blocked the purchase on the grounds of national interest.
Why? Because it's abundantly clear that the disappearance of two major second tier banks during the financial crisis has led to a radical reduction in competition in the country’s financial system.
At that time, the prevailing concern was ensuring the stability of the banking system, so competition concerns were cast aside as Commonwealth Bank was allowed to snap
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