The real winner from the elections?

While election season accelerates into full swing ahead of polling day on 7 September, the Guardian has a nice piece about the entrenched players in the Australian economy which wield a disproportionate amount of pricing power:

Whatever happens on 7 September, we already know who rules in Australia. We like to think of ourselves as an open and equal country with appropriate checks and balances but in truth, power is highly concentrated within our nation.
Let’s start with banking and finance. According to an IMF report last year, "Australia’s four major banks hold 80% of banking assets and 88% of residential mortgages," making Australia one of the most concentrated banking market in the world – more so than, for example, China or the US. (here)

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

Serial innovator Mark Bouris is back launching a new venture, a Macquarie-backed mortgage lender to rival the banks called Yellow Brick Road:

...Although the two companies' share of the $1.1 trillion mortgage market is tiny, Mr Bouris argued YBR, which he chairs, could grab a meaningful share of the flow of new home loans within a year....Mr Bouris said that to force banks to change their mortgage pricing strategies, YBR needed to settle about $350 million worth of new loans a month - roughly 5 per cent of the value of loans sold through bank branches....

...Helped by lower funding costs and an aggressive rollout of its branches, YBR would be able to hit this level within a year, he said....(here).

This blog condones more competition in the Ozzie banking sector so welcomes Mark's foray.  Let's hope the market doesn't tank before then!