In giving consent, we recognised that, under certain circumstances, all our large banks being Australian-owned could increase our system’s exposure to stress emanating from the Australian economy and financial system. We will be considering this further and have let it be known that we will take further measures to manage this risk if necessary.
As noted before, the conditions imposed on the ANZ’s acquisition are a specific application of our current policy thinking around governance and crisis management, coloured by the additional considerations introduced by the RBNZ Amendment Act. This thinking is still developing, and relevant to all systemically important banks.