Time to Burst the Bankers' Club Bubble

At a recent Senate Banking Inquiry I spoke with Michael Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of the Customer Owned Banks Association.

I know that many of our supporters hold the belief that more regulation will bring the banks under control. The truth is that the banks will always have smarter lawyers than the government. Regulation becomes a barrier to entry of new or small players wanting to compete with the big banks. At the same time, the big banks do whatever they want with only the occasional penalty that is clearly not enough to stop them.

The answer to this dilemma is a Government-owned bank that provides the existing banks with real competition by running the bank for the benefit of the customers and shareholders equally, rather than entirely for the benefit of shareholders, as the banks are doing at the moment. The difference will be especially noticeable in the areas of customer service and ethics.

Suncorp is the 6th largest bank in Australia. It is on the market for a bargain price of $4.9 billion. My proposal is for the government to buy Suncorp Bank outright using the Future Fund and re-purpose it to provide the full range of banking services through Bank@Post.

This would offer real competition to the big banks. By running the Post Office Bank using a modified Code of Practice it guarantees the customer a bank that will not behave like greedy, immoral, profiteering crony capitalists.

That would be a refreshing change.

Transcript: https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/time-to-burst-the-bankers-club-bubble/