New research released by CoreData has confirmed that the global financial crisis (GFC), when combined with the Government’s bank deposit guarantee, has reinforced the dominance of the big four banks in the mortgage market.
The research found that the big four now hold 73.8 per cent of outstanding mortgages in Australia, up from 57.8 per cent two years’ ago.
What is more, the research suggested that the dominance of the big four had been reinforced by Westpac’s merger with St George and the Commonwealth’s acquisition of Bankwest.
It suggested that had those transactions not occurred, the big banks’ market share would have stood at 62.9 per cent.
Of the big four banks, the Commonwealth is the most dominant in the mortgage market, holding 25.3 per cent market share, while Westpac holds 23.2 per cent.
