Australian Banks Well Positioned To Weather The Financial Crisis

In comparison to the battered banks elsewhere, Australia's 'big four' banks have been "holding up very well" relative to their counterparts in the US and Europe, which have either filed for bankruptcy or have sought government bailouts, says John Schubert, chairman of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's biggest lender by market capitalisation. While the global financial crisis hasn't resulted in question marks regarding the solvency of Australia's banking giants, the share prices of the 'big four' - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB), Westpac Banking Corp (Westpac) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) - have nonetheless fallen to their lowest levels in 52 weeks.