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Speaker 1: Now, with the news last week that a lot of

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Speaker 1: people are changing banks as they refinance their mortgages, we

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Speaker 1: once again ask ourselves whether the problem we think we

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Speaker 1: have is actually a problem. We seem, at least than

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Speaker 1: part in this country to be caught up with the

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Speaker 1: idea that if you're one big and two profitable, there

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Speaker 1: might be an issue. Banks have taken heat, of course,

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Speaker 1: for years, so much so that the government's passed and

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Speaker 1: indeed this current one are asking some fairly serious questions

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Speaker 1: about the way they do business now. The rural sector

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Speaker 1: not short of an opinion on the way they're being

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Speaker 1: treated at the moment, but the recent Commerce Commission report

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Speaker 1: into the sector tells us very clearly there isn't enough competition,

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Speaker 1: despite the fact that there are in fact no shortage

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Speaker 1: of actual banks with which to do business. Open banking

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Speaker 1: has been touted as a good move forward, and in

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Speaker 1: theory might well be, but the Australians will tell you

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Speaker 1: it's hardly a game changer. Technically it's easier to swap banks,

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Speaker 1: good do they well? Seems no more than previously so.

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Speaker 1: The figures produced last week by the Reserve Bank are

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Speaker 1: instructive because they're a real world example of banking in action.

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Speaker 1: At the moment, the banks are busy offering deals. Of

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Speaker 1: course they want money out the door. They're cutting rates

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Speaker 1: multiple times so far. And that story, by the way,

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Speaker 1: isn't over. There are plenty more where that came from.

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Speaker 1: And as a result of the deal's on offer, people

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Speaker 1: are shopping around, people are moving, people are taking the

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Speaker 1: arrangement that best suits them. Now, that is what's called

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Speaker 1: the market working. Now, if you run a poll and

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Speaker 1: ask whether people are happy or you're paying too much,

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Speaker 1: we'd like things to be cheaper, you'll always get the

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Speaker 1: predictable answer. I mean even at supermarkets, as prices drop,

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Speaker 1: people will tell you they're not. Once again, I offer

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Speaker 1: the rider that this is not a defense of banks

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Speaker 1: or banking or big business, but it is an observation

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Speaker 1: of the real world based on real facts and real events.

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Speaker 1: So just how bad is the perceived problem versus what's

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Speaker 1: actually happening. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen

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Speaker 1: live to news talks that'd be from six am weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.