The banking industry is becoming the preserve of the wealthy with reduced access to credit for average Australians and a zero-risk tolerance for failure that threatens to destroy aspiration in the economy, the QUT Business Leaders' Forum has heard.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott was moved to tears in the tell-all chat with award-winning journalist and QUT alumni Ellen Fanning that covered early years growing up with a father who refused to borrow money for most of his life, the risk of recession, working with universities on a new tech hub for Queensland, and the knocked back Suncorp acquisition that is currently being appealed.
But it was concern for a new generation of Australians who are all but abandoning the notion of home ownership, that had the banking boss most worried.
"We have decided as a community that we want banks to be a lot safer and regulated and while ASIC and APRA are all well-meaning, the net effect of all that regulation is that banking is becoming the preserve of the wealthy," Mr Elliott told the QUT Business Leaders' Forum in Brisbane.
"It's never been harder to get a bank loan or a credit card in Australia.
"The average person in Australia cannot afford the average home.
"The average income in Australia is $90,000, the average home is $900,000. Even if you had the deposit, you won't get a bank loan to support that."
He said restricting access to credit was creating safer banks but at the cost of reduced economic dynamism.
"If there is a generation that think they have no ability to own their own home, that they just blot that out, that is a very, very damaging thing to the system that we live in," Mr Elliott said.
"We have all decided to live in a liberal democracy, that is what we like, part of that is market dynamism, that people have the aspiration to want a house, to want to run their business. If we squash that, that is really, really dangerous."
ANZ made headlines earlier this month when its $4.9 billion acquisition of Suncorp banking was rejected by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on the grounds that it would lessen competition outside of the big four banks, being the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, ANZ and the National Australia Bank.
ANZ is appealing the decision and expects a more favourable outcome next year.
"I don't think the number of competitors is the right way to think about competition, it's about the quality of the competition," Mr Elliott said, referring to remarks by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sim that market concentration was contributing to higher consumer prices and lower wages.
"There is no big four (banks) in Australia, there's a big two. CBA has 26 per cent market share and Westpac as 23. We have 13. We are closer in size to Bendigo Bank that CBA. If we are successful in the Suncorp acquisition, we will go from 13 to 15 per cent.
"The idea that that somehow changes the universe and we are now fundamentally less competitive, I don't think that stacks up.
"Our case is that in order to be a better competitor … the only way we can do that is to spend more money on innovation, cyber security, technology, compliance etc.
"It's easier to defray that cost over a 15 per cent share than 13 per cent, so that we have got a chance to take it to the big guerillas in the marketplace."
He said Queensland, as the fastest-growing state, with the youngest demographic and the most diversifying economy in the country aligned well with ANZ's goals and the acquisition would be used as a platform for growth.
"We have prepared to back this acquisition with jobs, 700 tech jobs, working with the local universities to build a tech hub and working with people like Google to build skills so that young Queenslanders don't have to leave Queensland to work in technology or finance but can stay here."
The QUT Business Leaders' Forum has developed an international reputation over 20 years for attracting dynamic, world-class leaders in a dialogue on today's leadership challenges.
New forum sponsor, Brisbane Chamber Queensland, was welcomed during the event at the Hilton Hotel which this year has also heard from Tesla boss Robyn Denholm and News Corp Australia boss Michael Miller.
Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth will feature in the next QUT Business Leaders' Forum on October 10.
