Borrowing

Wayne Swan is aggrieved. The hard-working treasurer is disappointed at the way his long-heralded bank reform package has gone over. But should he be surprised really?

Let’s face it, bank packages, especially over-hyped ones, always underwhelm. Knowing this, it is curious that the Government has again managed expectations so ham-fistedly, taking weeks to reveal an unremarkable hand. Perhaps, like many things, it depends on where you stand.

After toiling away behind the scenes, the Government feels it has offered up serious reform. This may or may not turn out to be true if things like genuine portability of account numbers come to pass. Ditto with allowing banks to tap into the one trillion dollar national superannuation nest-egg, which may help storm-proof the finance sector against future global credit crunches. But neither of these reforms, nor many other aspects of the package, will do much for home-owners right now.

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