In the past six months Westpac bank has spent millions of shareholders’ dollars convincing us that it is: safe (we are factor 50 among other enthusiastic offerings of robust certainty), interested in service (we are bringing back the bank manager) and…

Australia, despite the best efforts of a determined cadre of Catholics from Sydney’s elegant and leafy North Shore, is yet to have a saint; the closest we have so far managed is the beatification of Mary McKillop.

The steps to sainthood…

Humans, well most humans, have an inbuilt need to seek out order and organisation – for the majority of us it’s as hard wired as breathing.

Our brains are set up to look for patterns that explain things and make sense…

Significant mortgage market share changes have occurred during the financial crisis in Australia, with the traditional Big Four banks becoming the Big Two.

In August 2008, Westpac became the biggest mortgage lender in Australia when the Australian Consumer & Competition Commission (ACCC)…

The Australian Consumer & Competition Commission (ACCC) earns a black mark for suggesting foreign banks can compete on retail deposits in Australia.

The ACCC Public Competition Assessment in August 2008 announced its decision not to oppose the Westpac takeover of St…

The Australian banking and regulatory system is the envy of the Western world, some say, yet pundits argue that the big four banks are anti-competitive due to their market share levels.

The ACCC had little choice during the global crisis to…