As I mentioned earlier, the foreign banks focussed primarily on the corporate market when they first began business in the mid 1980s, but from the beginning of this decade, they have increased their focus on retail banking, including housing lending.
Their share of housing loan approvals increased from about 1 per cent in 2000 to a peak of about 15 per cent in 2008 (Graph 4). Two related factors have contributed to the foreign banks’ increased market share.