ANZ managing director Mike Smith yesterday used a speech at an Australia-China business conference in Sydney to assess the relative pricing of Australian bank shares compared with banks elsewhere.
The Australian reported on Smith's remarks.
"It strikes me as extraordinary that Australian banks, which in this environment are incredibly strong, are treated with the same sort of discount as European and US banks, which are facing serious financial trouble," the newspaper reported Smith said.
"There is no longer any disparity between what is good and what is bad. The Australian banking system is stronger than any other Western market: it has not been as affected.
"That doesn't mean we have not been affected. It means we have not been as affected.
"If you look at what has been going on with the European and US banks, I find it extraordinary that the strength of the Australian banking sector has been hit in the way it has when we are a completely different story."