Labor silent on banking policy

As with practically all policy areas it will be hard to spot the difference between Australia's contesting political parties as the shadow campaign switches to the formal campaign and an election on November 24.

A change of government seems probable, if the consensus of regular opinion polls is any guide.

In the arena of financial services there's very little on the record from anyone in the ALP on what Labor might do differently if elected.

The party's rather tepid banking policies of 2001 and 2004 are unlikely to resurface. So there will be no policy on a universal service obligation (such as a basic bank account) that would apply to the five largest banks. Nor will there be any proposed tax (of $30 million, on a one-off basis) that Labor in 2004 proposed to impose on the top five in order to offer subsidies to some other providers of basic banking services.

There may be policies on improving disclosure, curtailing predatory lending, regulating mortgage brokers and improving dispute resolution schemes, all of which are both in train and marginal.

Like a lot of tentative Labor policies, any formal disclosure of these few details of banking policy is unlikely at any stage in the campaign period.

One idea with support in the middle ranks (but not, it seems, among the leadership ranks) is the amalgamation of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission into a single financial services regulator (similar to the structure that applies in Britain).

In the past there's been mention, quickly watered down, of supporting an increase in the level of superannuation contributions from the current (mandated) level of nine per cent to 12 per cent.