Branch status out of favour

Another debate touched on by Charles Goode at the ANZ AGM on Friday is the practical consequences of tightening up on liquidity rules in all national banking markets.

Goode said in some markets in which ANZ operates, regulators were likely to have "designated capital and liquidity under those countries' supervision" and which must mean less flexibility to count liquid assets elsewhere in the group balance sheet as available to support a particular business.

He said ANZ may have to incorporate existing bank branches in some cases.

Goode also, in effect, tackled the controversy raised by Ross Garnaut and David Llewellyn-Jones in their book 'The Great Crash of 2008'.

"This was not requested by the major Australian banks,",Goode said.

The Garnaut book implies that in October 2008 all major banks did, in some form, seek the extensive government support for deposits and wholesale liabilities.