Whippet,If you read my October...

Whippet,
If you read my October article...
http://ozbankers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=29

"Another positive aspect of the Global Financial Crisis for the Big 4 banks has been their ability to increase their market share to hold over 90% of new mortgages, up from 60% pre-crisis. This will remain high into the future due to reduced competition. The Commonwealth Bank’s takeover of BankWest and the Westpac and St George merger are two examples of a reduction in competition. This will significantly benefit margins and profitability into the future."

So, short-answer, not totally. I mean, it's part of the reason...

But, a bigger part of the reason, IMHO, is people went to the *safe* banks through the GFC, the ones they felt that they could trust. In Australia, this is really only 4 Banks....

They got 90% of new mortgages... so, no, not *just* from their mergers/acquisitions.

Also, through the GFC, 'riskier banks' like Bendigo and Adelaide Banks had their costs of funding increase dramatically... as such, these smaller banks weren't able to be priced at a level that was mucg below the Big4 through the GFC....

So, if Ben&Adl Bank is, say, 4.49% and CBA is 4.5%... who would you go with?

And, of course, yes the Big 4 are even bigger now because of the mergers you noted...