The Four Pillar policy has been there for ages, even before John Howard's time as prime minister. It seems to me that seeing Howard did not change that policy he must have agreed with the idea which was introduced by Keating when he was treasurer in the Hawke Labor government.
It actually was made up of the 4 big banks, AMP, and National Mutual. From memory, many moons ago Westpac wanted to take over AMP but was not allowed because Keating wanted to maintain the 6 Pillar.
AMP is a shadow of its former self, and National Mutual has now been taken over by the AMP.
Yes, I do agree that we need vibrant and vigorous competition in our domestic banking sector. Keating deregulated the banking sector when he was treasurer to encourage entry of foreign banks. In the initial years quite a few foreign banks did set up shop in Australia but most had since withdrawn from Australia I think they found the 4 four had a stranglehold here.
Regarding your "When Banks make huge profits the tax system should be scaled in such a way that it is in the banks interest to reinvest a least part of these profits into the Australian economy or their tax rate increased". Any idea how that can be enforced ?
I am for more regulation of our banking sector, not less.
