When Australia’s prudential regulator this week revealed plans to impose higher capital charges on housing loans it was seen in some circles as a gift for the “two stumps”.
The two stumps refers to the Melbourne headquartered banks, ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank. They are part of the four pillars policy that stops the big four banks from taking each other over.
But over the past decade ANZ and NAB have been unable to match the profitability and superior sharemarket performance of the two Sydney-based banks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp.
This relative under-performance, with the exception of the past 12 months, was behind the big four being described as the two stumps and the two pill…
Read the full article at: http://www.afr.com/brand/chanticleer/business-banks-have-an-edge-in-capital-constrained-world-20170407-gvg9wn
