A partisan and divided banking sector pressed disparate cases over the Major Bank Levy for the final time before a Senate committee on Friday. The bill for the levy - a tax of six basis points on many wholesale liabilities and some deposits - is sure to pass the parliament and be law by the end of the month. The government's major bank levy will be "good for consumers," said David Breen, ING Bank Australia's head of corporate affairs, in a submission to the Senate's economics committee. ING Direct was the only foreign bank to proffer a view on the record in a brief review by the Senate of the measure. Major banks used a hearing on Friday to refresh angst over the bill, framed mainly as being detrimental to competition with foreign banks and in foreign markets. Michelle Jablko, chief financial officer of ANZ, told the hearing that the levy in its proposed form would "constrain Australian banks' ability to develop offshore business and serve customers in the region." Jablko said "we believe the levy should apply to major foreign banks operating in Australia and exclude the offshore branches of Australian banks. "This would be consistent with principles of international taxation, avoid double taxing Australian banks and mean that all major banks in Australia, foreign or domestic, are treated equally. "Without the levy applying to major foreign banks, Australian banks will be at a significant disadvantage in the institutional markets where foreign banks mainly compete." Gary Lennon, chief financial officer at NAB chimed in along similar lines that "the inefficient design of this tax places the impacted major Australian banks at a competitive disadvantage in wholesale markets that are critical to a well-functioning economy. "In these markets the Australian banks compete against large and profitable global institutions that are not impacted by the tax - because their domestic liabilities do not exceed the tax's A$100 billion threshold." Smaller banks at the hearing stuck to well worn lines that there were clear rationales for the levy. Mark Degotardi, CEO of the Customer Owned Banking Association said the levy "reduces the unfair funding cost advantage enjoyed by [major] banks as a result of the implicit guarantee provided by taxpayers due to the perception that the major banks are 'too big to fail'. "COBA welcomes the major bank levy as a modest step towards reducing this funding cost advantage." Degotardi argued "the 'too big to fail' problem tends to get worse over time." "The unfair funding cost advantage creates incentives for major banks to become even bigger and more complex," he said.