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
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