Banking and finance

Principles

The Australian Greens believe that:

  1. Australia’s banking sector is among the most concentrated in the world, and requires Government intervention to ensure this does not harm the community, customers or taxpayers.
  2. A well-regulated, competitive and diverse banking sector serves the broader public interest and the economy.
  3. The oligopoly that dominates the banking sector in Australia is placing an unfair burden on the community, customers and taxpayers.
  4. Retail banking fees are generally regressive and should be as transparent and low as possible.
  5. Where banks are beneficiaries of government commitments to ensure the systemic stability of the financial system they should provide a transparent additional return to government revenue.
  6. The Government has a role to ensure that people are given access to impartial financial advice.
  7. The banking and finance industry should serve the broader public interest by promoting financial stability, productive over speculative investment, social security and ecological sustainability.
  8. Publicly owned financial institutions could play a key role in steering funds into more productive and sustainable long-term uses.
  9. All communities, including the most disadvantaged and remote, should have access to basic banking services.
  10. Risk embedded in financial instruments must be transparent.
  11. Australia should promote international cooperation to strengthen banking regulation in all countries. 

Aims

The Australian Greens want:

  1. To require banks to make a greater contribution to the public purse, through taxes and levies reflecting the government assistance they receive.
  2. Transferring savings and credit accounts between financial institutions to be made easy with any charges being minimal and fully transparent to consumers.
  3. To minimise ATM and other access fees, so that banks do not profit from people accessing their own money.
  4. To encourage or require lenders to provide suitable financial instruments for the establishment of long term finance for projects that will have a positive social, economic and environmental benefit.
  5. To require proper regulatory oversight to enforce stringent capital rules for Australian banks and other financial institutions.
  6. Prudential regulation to be strengthened to ensure greater transparency and reduction of systemic risk.
  7. A stronger international regulatory regime for banking to ensure system stability.
  8. The Australian government to implement programs to improve Australians’ financial literacy.
  9. Regulation of financial advice services to ensure impartiality, transparency and protection of consumer interests.