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Chapter 12.     The Australian banking industry has consolidated substantially since Campbell deregulation in 1980

                         The Four Pillars continue to announce record profits, but Australia's Three Regulators for Financial Services are not interested if any/all of the Four Pillars are exploiting their unique Oligopoly market conditions by charging Usurious Interest Rates on many Credit Card Products and not paying interest on transaction bank accounts, but rather charging account keeping fees

"In the 1970s and 1980s non-bank financial institutions ("NBFIs") were much more prevalent than now. Building societies especially were much stronger forces.  At that time the number of home loans held by banks compared with building societies was about 3 to 1.  Now it is about 50 to 1.

The big change happened with the 1990 recession and the collapse of building societies like Pyramid which mirrored somewhat the then "savings and loans" crisis occurring in America.  Not surprisingly, when times got tough, people flocked to the safety of the banks.  And so by the end of 1994, banks controlled around 91% of all home loans in Australia.  Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s this figure shrank as wholesale mortgage lenders such as RAMS and Aussie Home Loans came into the market.  By the middle of 2007 banks controlled only 78% of the value of the home loan market."

Effects of the GFC:

• "Within 18 months Australian banks controlled 91% of the mortgage and the latest figures have the banks accounting for 94.1% of all monies loaned to owner-occupier home buyers."

• "Banking is a global business and the recent GFC has resulted in a number of foreign banks leaving or reducing their exposures in Australia."

• "Some foreign lenders (banks and non-banks) have exited, particularly European-owned entities, as their parent entities have sought to scale back their global operations. "

•  Westpac acquired Rams Home Loans and St. George Bank.

•  CBA acquired Bankwest under "Project Magellan" for $2.1b.

"The Four Pillar Banks now account for around 80 per cent of the credit card market."

Australian TREASURY SUBMISSION TO THE SENATE ECONOMICS REFERENCES COMMITTEE - Aug 2015 reports "...the major banks — as in the mortgage lending market — account for around 80 per cent of the credit card market."

Former Reserve Bank employee, and now Crikey finance journalist, Peter Mair, in his SUBMISSION TO SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS dated 17 July 2015 noted that the Four Pillars hold 'depositors balances' of " ... one trillion dollars ..." approx that pay no interest: