Apparently successful so far. Have they just swapped a hard cleansing dip for a slow decline? Did we waste a good crisis?

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/09/09/when-taxpayers-underwrite-anz-asia-its-time-to-re-regulate/

The banks have strangled competition and this means the Australian taxpayer is in more peril. The saying goes the bigger they are the harder they fall, and this particularly applies here. The question is how do we create more competition when the banks own basically everyone? People say “Oh I will go to Bankwest” or “SunCorp” but these are still part of the same monster.

One answer I believe lies in the Superannuation System. This is highly regulated, highly monitored and therefore relatively safe. If some of the bigger super funds around, such as Australian Super, or Statewide, were allowed to offer home loans they would breathe new life into the sector. These home loans could then be packaged and sold to the members of the fund as a ‘mortgage fund’ offering a stable, long term return.

Of course, mortgage fund and securitization are dirty words right now, but I’m not talking sub prime, I’m talking Australian Residential Property First Mortgages. Super funds are highly regulated and this would provide a stable fund akin to fixed interest.

There are those who will scream housing is going to collapse and defaults will go through the roof but this article, and the economic figures which are out there recently tend to suggest otherwise. I believe this is one way to breathe competition into the finance sector and allow people a real choice, because right now, people believe the banks are their only option.