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As Europe’s banks have faltered, ours have soared. The Commonwealth Bank briefly became Australia’s biggest company this week — a moment worth reflecting on.

Suddenly, the year 2012, which promised so much, is starting to look as though it will be ugly for the banking business, writes Robert Gottliebsen.

Standard & Poor’s ratings downgrade is delivering to Australian banks a much needed wake-up call which bank CEOs will ignore at their peril, writes Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator.

Australian companies are already feeling the sting of the European debt crisis, as banks move to push up interest rates they charge to reflect growing turmoil in global financial markets.

Wayne Swan’s attack on National Australia Bank, labelling it “greedy” for “only” passing onto home loan borrowers 20 basis points of the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point reduction in official interest rates, is churlish and betrays a poor memory.

According to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman John Laker, bank funding markets are already demonstrating some crisis-like features.

It’s peculiar that the nation’s treasurer is obsessed with trying to organise more and cheaper credit even as his central banks tries to do the opposite.

Glenn Stevens has helped the cause of those who think Wayne Swan’s banking “reforms” are a response to a problem that has yet to be demonstrated.

The only thing Ted Baillieu can hope for is that feelings of boredom cause voters to do something strange on Saturday.

The boards of the four major Australian banks have appointed chief executives with a communication skills gap, writes Robert Gottliebsen from Business Spectator.

Julia Gillard is there to govern and must be seen to be doing so. To be — how should one put it? — moving forward. Banks may be providing her a perfect opportunity to do so.

You have got to love the ingenuity of politicians and public officials when they fell under pressure to be seen by the public to be doing something about a problem.

There’s nothing wrong with exploring the issue of high home prices and their impact on our banks and the economy, just that the claims have to be given full context.

Debt, like capital or labour, is a scarce resource — it is the role of banks to ensure that debt is allocated efficiently. But baks are not always the greedy, fat-cat evil characters they are made out to be.

One only has to look at Europe or the US to be reminded that far worse than a banking system that is too profitable is one that is unprofitable, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz of Business Spectator.