This 2004 chart of the derivatives of the big four banks, seven years after the CEC’s original 1997 chart, revealed massive growth in the exposure of NAB, Westpac and CBA, but very little growth in ANZ. The CEC published this chart in a 2005 issue of its New Citizen newspaper, warning that derivatives were the “mother of all bubbles” and would cause a global financial crisis when the bubble burst.
Is Australia sitting on a ticking derivatives nuclear bomb?