(31 August 2007 – Australia) National Australia Bank group chief executive John Stewart is on a mission to make Australia the financial services hub for Asia.Speaking a week before the APEC conference in Sydney, Stewart said Australia was one of the largest market places for financial services in Asia Pacific and was setting a global standard with the largest investment funds asset pool in Asia, which was bigger than that of Singapore, Hong Kong or Japan.
He said Australia had more people employed in finance and insurance than Singapore and Hong Kong combined and that Sydney office space was cheaper than Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.
The speech, entitled What is the future of Australia’s Financial Services industry?, ties in with NAB’s sponsorship of a series of lectures and debates about making Australia the financial services hub for Asia.