There is a somewhat disengenuous statement comming out of the...

There is a somewhat disengenuous statement comming out of the ANZ bank that their board was somehow not aware of the goings on at Opes Prime and its relationship with the Bank.

There is strict liability imputed on the board, management and the entity as a bank for the relationship between itself and the client Opes Prime and others I might add.

If it all went well and they were making squillions, they would have all had their hands out for their share of the obscene remuneration they are handcuffed to at the expense of their shareholders and the public and not say anything about what they knew or did not know about clients and their relationship with other arms of the bank.

There is an ample body of evidence from previous conduct of this and the other 3 big banks, their managers and boards in previous years, their boasts of how and why they made good and were doing well in boom times much like the boasts of Costello as if they created the boom. If they did then they would have seen the light of the on comming express train (not erroneously believeing it to be the light at the end of the tunnel).

Until the Sydney Melbourne coeterie of socially accepted pedigree that sit on boards and managerial positions of theses banks are expunged from these banks, the 4 pillars are doomed to a take over eventually by Indian, Singapore and Chinese funds who have already positioned themselves via their London and New York surrogates waiting for the inevitable to happen.

Saul Eslake was at it again this morning on radio national. Speaking in his carefully choreographed vocal dance of words and tones reminiscent of EG Whitlam but without the substance, making such broad brush general comments about the economy and the Reserve Bank and how they think and react (having already been in deep informal discussion with them) in the current recession. He did not use the R word although he must be aware of the situation the economy is in.

Saul has had a history of making grandiose statements and putting out distortions about economic performance and indicators for what I believe were politically motivated reasons. He hunts with the hounds and runs with the hares.

Mr. AC Goode and Co (RIP) should be pruned out of the bank as should the present board and its management be flushed out before we are able to see the banks reach their full potential.

If the public are to be restrained from making fair comment because fair comment hurts, then these individuals should not occupy positions of authority that carry the responsibilities that go with it.

The economy was in recession previously. It is still primarily underwritten by the primary sector. Gone is the sheeps back. Welcome the miners back. The slowing down in spending Mr. Easlake is the result of the slowing down in the housing sector (bloated)because of the fall out from the US sub prime crisis which we believed somehow was so directly connected to us that we had to react accordingly. Wrong. But thats been done and gone. The hike in oil prices also impacted on spending. it had nothing to do with a general slowing down of the economy. That performing like it always has done, with undeclared government assistance and patronage in the larger sectors aided generously by the banks.

The bank like the other three is trying to build up its loan portfolio again in the midst of the current financial crisis affecting banks by providing gratuitous comments like that attributed to Easlake in the Fin review this morning suggesting borrowers should lock into the first rate cut in September.

Will this advise be applied to Babcock and Brown and MFS and their ilk? or is it designed to assist the top end of town lest your vulnerability be exposed. And there is more.

What I suggest is that everyone withold any locking into any rate cut because it is no cut. The banks have unilaterally increased interest rates twice this year by stealth. The RBA now considering the existence of that loophole have decided to provide a cosmetic cut to be passed on to cure that injury on consumers caused by the banks earlier this year.

Since they have no courage or honour enough to admit that they are aware of the impending interest rate hike and by how much aproximately, they should not be allowed to benefit from the insider information they are in possession of.

If everyone decided to allow their loans to fall into default, there will be such a catastrophe that the government must and will intervene like they are now doing in the US and in Britain.

if banks want to benefit from private enterprise, they should be distanced from government and their organs and not be allowed to benefit from them either.

There is a conservative stink within the boards of banks and the nation as a whole will suffer from their indolent existence there. Costello will walk into a dying liberal party misinformed of its own ignornace that this man is no miracle worker. he is the lazy worker who runs up the top of the empire state building (via the lift) and places the last brick on the top and says like Little Jack Horner "What a good boy am I".

We need the Singaporean example of good governnance. When the goings good you get rewarded. When it fails you get punished.