The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Saturday, February 11, 2012

AFR's Alan Mitchell agrees than major bank RoEs are too high

Quote today:

The banks’ rates of return probably are too high for normal times, and that is not in the national interest. Financial intermediation is too important to be over-priced. Australia needs an even more competitive banking environment. But that’s a problem for the future. At the moment, there is no serious problem posed by the banks’ decisions on lending rates.
at 9:04 AM