Commonwealth Bank helped keep the debate, however scatty, over bank pricing and bank conduct and bank regulation on the front pages of the weekend newspapers, and with more echoes of that debate featuring in the media this morning.
CBA chief executive Ralph Norris found time on his return to Australia from China on Friday to speak with reporters for metropolitan newspapers and explain the rationale for the bank's 45 basis point rise in home loan rates announced on Tuesday, though whether his comments and the subsequent coverage (in
The Australian, Financial Review,
Herald Sun and
Sydney Morning Herald and associated newspapers) assisted CBA is doubtful. More analysis on Norris' intervention appears in the next article today.
Later developments in the debate include a report, in the Financial Review today, of banks lobbying the Australian government to clarify the tax law so they may continue to claim deductions on interest payments on subordinated debt.
Banks and their advisers hold concerns that as APRA modifies rules on regulatory capital to make it clear that subordinated debt can fully absorb losses then this type of security will no longer count as a debt instrument but as equity, and thus making the coupon payments ineligible for a tax deduction.
On the Canberra side of the debate ASIC will later this week release guidelines to the industry on how it will approach assessment of any controversies over break fees on home loans.
The prime minister, Julia Gillard, elevated the significance of this in a television interview yesterday morning but in reality the ASIC paper will be routine business.
The ASIC policy shift on break fees is already in force, and in any event high break fees are common among loans from mortgage managers and niche lenders, and break fees on loans from banks are usually low.
The Sunday Age confirmed that one topic of interest to Treasury in the planned statement on bank reforms is account number portability, though nature of any proposed policy intervention is not clear.
Meanwhile on the opposition side of politics the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey,
proposed a "community forum" with bank chiefs and also the Treasurer, Wayne Swan.