(24 May 2012 – Australia) ANZ chief executive Mike Smith revised his statement from Friday, instead saying European funding markets remained open for high quality Australian banks.Smith said although funding costs had risen, meaning the European market was more expensive but not closed completely.
Smith sparked concerns when he said markets were shut, later revising his comments to say European markets were ‘essentially closed’, but Asian and US markets were open.
‘If we needed to do term issuance, our name will stand out and there is no doubt in my mind that we would be able to do it,’ Commonwealth Bank Australia group treasurer Lyn Cobley told the AFR.
‘I don’t think there is a problem with markets being opened, I think it may just be a little more expensive than it was a week or two ago.’
Australia’s top four banks together raise almost A$100 billion annually from wholesale funding markets to bridge a gap between total loans and deposits.
They have raised over 80 percent of wholesale funding needs for 2011/2012.