Coalition senators are expected to be angered by newspaper reports today that Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) deputy chairman, Ross Jones told US diplomats about likely bank consolidation when the regulator has chosen to cite the secrecy provisions of its parent act in answering questions during Senate Estimates.
A report in today’s Financial Review cites US diplomatic cables published on the WikiLeaks website which state that Jones gave the US embassy a private assessment of the health of Australian banks during the global financial crisis.
The cable said Jones noted the Commonwealth Bank had acquired Bankwest and he expected the trend to continue, citing the potential that Suncorp could also be acquired.
The revelations come just weeks after APRA declined to answer a series of questions posed by Tasmanian Liberal Senator, David Bushby, about the regulator’s activities around MTAA Super, citing the secrecy provisions of its parent act – something which prompted Bushby to write a column outlining his concerns in Money Management.
The Financial Review report said an APRA spokesman had defended the regulator’s deputy chairman, claiming Jones had been speaking hypothetically and with respect to publicly available information.
