the agreement with the Federal Reserve to provide dollar liquidity to euro area banks at an early stage of the financial crisis. It took some time before we were able to present a similar agreement for the Danish banks. I could list a number of other examples.
The banking sector has played a significant role in this economic growth, being the main intermediator of peoples' savings into investment and gateway for foreign investment funds. At around 74 per cent, banks account for the lion's share of financial system assets in New Zealand. In comparison, banks account for about 50 per cent of financial system assets in Australia.