Indeed, on 23 June 2016, the future changed – or to quote Yogi Berra: “The future ain’t what it used to be”. But what exactly the future will be is still unclear. Official negotiations on Brexit have not even started, and they will take years to conclude. Meanwhile, a cloud of uncertainty is now hanging over everyone, including the banks.
The last bank failure in Australia that resulted in a loss to depositors was almost 90 years ago, back in 1931, and it was a very small bank and depositors lost only a small fraction of their deposits.2 This is a positive record that few countries can match. This strength was apparent during the financial crisis a decade ago and has served Australia well.