Naked Among Cannibals: What really happens inside Australian banksAustralian banks are riding high. Shareholder profits are at record levels. Senior executives are on champagne salaries and business has never been so good. But in the suburbs and in the bush, hundreds of branches have closed, many thousands of jobs have been lost and millions of customers are disillusioned, all in the name of banking reform. This is the story of one bank, the State Bank of New South Wales, and its sale to the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society. But it is a tale that is universal. It is about corporate greed in the banking industry, transfer pricing, funny money, policy making unashamedly calculated to maximise profits, speculation and manipulation, boardroom powerplays, and contentious practices designed to hold bank customers captive. And it is about the mating calls between banks and fees, fees and still more fees. Our worst suspicions are confirmed. We are all naked among the cannibals that are the Australian banks. |
Contents
1 | |
2 From showdown to lowdown | 8 |
3 The trusting sleep of the innocent | 14 |
4 The end of the other state banks | 28 |
5 Reinventing the Bank | 37 |
6 Management by committee | 49 |
7 Pricing Committee and barefaced effrontery | 63 |
8 From revered to reviled | 86 |
14 All go at Altco | 170 |
15 Shades of Gray in Treasury | 182 |
16 Give me the child and Ill give you the man | 199 |
17 Show me the money | 212 |
18 First State first rate | 229 |
19 Going broke in broking | 236 |
highest bidders not welcome | 244 |
21 Cash for comments | 264 |
9 A muchloved borrower | 111 |
10 Funny Money | 128 |
11 Once were customers | 141 |
12 An element of the fantastic | 157 |
13 Transfer pricing rules OK | 162 |
22 Cries from the heart | 269 |
Notes | 292 |
Index | 301 |
Back cover | 307 |
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Common terms and phrases
advisers Altco assets Australian banks Australian dollar Australian Financial Review balance sheet Bank of Australia Bank Treasury Bank’s banking industry became bond borrowers branch capital cent charge Chief Executive clients Colonial State Bank corporate loan cost customers dealers dealing room debt deregulation dollars earnings ensure Farley fees FSSL funds management future Government growth guarantee home loan housing loans increase interchange fee interest rates investment bankers investors issue John Fahey John O'Neill lenders lending loss major banks management team Managing Director margins mating calls meeting million months National Australia Bank O’Neill offer options paid payment person Phil Gray portfolio Pricing Committee problem profit recession Report Reserve Bank retail deposits risk sell share price shareholders Smedley South Wales staff strategy swaps Sydney Morning Herald term deposit trading transaction transfer pricing wanted Westpac Whitlam