Political hopeful vents bank history thesis

The parade of failures and near failures in banking in Australia during the GFC received a Twitter airing yesterday afternoon by Ian Rogers.

The Banking Day publisher used his @ianrogers4Melb handle to revisit key events of the financial crisis, with a thesis that a dozen banks (and maybe most of an industry) must have been in line for wipe-out at the worst of the crisis.

The devastation narrowly averted during the GFC in Australia showed up the falsehood of the concept of a radiant banking industry during recent times, he said.

"The chronicle of failures and near failures and the names involved are galactic in an Australian context. It was an economic shock averted by the timely shift to an unambiguous government guarantee.

"The historic bank rescue in the Rudd and Swan era of the last Labor government saved the day, courtesy of the maddeningly late arrival of deposit insurance."

Rogers called a second time for a DFAT-style 'select documents release' to foster understanding of the shaky history of Australian banking, even though the details were bound to be compromising for many in the industry.