Bigger threat than the neobanks, IMO, is the larger established online only banks like ING Direct or Macquarie Online. They offer way better rates, in particular for savings accounts, than the big 4 - so there's no real reason to use the big 4 for savings and loans over the online banks. A big part of why traditional consumer banks are so profitable is because they have access to cheap low cost deposit funding- they pay next to nothing for the dollar that depositors entrust to them, lend it out at a higher cost and pocket the difference. Remove the low cost funding part of the equation, and I don't know how they can still make their monster profits.
WBC Price at posting:
$19.42 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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