A study has revealed that big banks have used the global financial crisis as an excuse to gouge customers while boosting staff pay packets and posting record profits for shareholders.
The University of Canberra study has found banks are overcharging customers through bigger profits on mortgages, higher fees and lower savings rates compared to before the global financial crisis, News Ltd newspapers say.
The study says official statistics prove banks have been lying to the public about their financial health.
"They (Westpac, the Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ) have been crying poor throughout the global financial crisis and yet official data shows that they have been misleading, to put it mildly," said Milind Sathye, professor of banking and finance at the University of Canberra.
The university has used statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) to monitor the banks' financial well-being.
"This means our conclusions can be openly scrutinised," Professor Sathye said. "The banks, on the other hand, make their arguments based on data that only they can see. And on that basis, they can argue almost anything."
The most recent APRA data shows that, far from cutting back during the crisis, banks actually increased remuneration for management and staff from $14 billion to $16 billion a year - a healthy 14.2 per cent increase - all while millions of ordinary workers were suffering pay freezes or reduced hours.
Banks have also slashed the rates they pay to savers, sometimes by almost half.
aap 9 May 2010
This is the way of the New World Order.
Bankers, financiers and Politicians ARE above the law and
there is nothing anyone can do about it
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