opes, page-56

"...I guess they will be asking themselves, what price their reputation at a time when the Big4 are competing for customers forced to consider them again over the smaller players disaffected by the credit crunch. No wonder CBA is flying. ANZ will suffer until they rid themselves of their Opes scourge and only Mike Smith can make that happen..."

Personally I don't think that those comments accurately reflect the reality of the situation.

Whilst I would agree that initially Opes did have an effect on ANZ's shareprice, that initial phenomena has more or less subsided, and price movements within the banking sector and the banks within them correlate far more so with global developments, and their financial exposure to overseas markets. CBA and WBC have far less exposure than do ANZ and the NAB, and the respective shareprices of the banks reflect those positions.

As for reputational damage and loss of clientele, most small business and retail banking clients, which make up by far and away the majority of the customer base, would have little to no knowledge of the Opes affair and would probably care as much. That knowledge is far more contained within the investment and trading community, which is far smaller. Opes obviously has had an effect on ANZ's standing, but it is far less than many of you here believe and would hope for, and with time, as with everything, the effect will subside and disappear, long before costly and lengthy litigation is heard in the courts.

The whole affair is a rather sorry tale, and it has been an unfortunate chapter in the lives of those affected...but without sounding disrespectful, the market is a game of risk vs reward, and many Opes clients, not all of them, but many chose a product that carried very high risk in my opinion....margin lending on speculative stocks??? I struggle to beleieve that people would seek such a product, but again that's where the risk/reward comes into it, or dare I say greed. Again, not all Opes customers fell into that category, and for those custumors, I truly do feel sympathy.

Best of luck to all. It seems like it will be a long road ahead now.