Banking compared to KFC as ANZ’s Suncorp appeal gets granular
Day two of the big four bank's appeal of its rejected Suncorp Bank deal was all about market definitions. And fried chicken.
The opening day of a court hearing might well be the best place for colourful and dramatic language to grab the courtroom's attention but from there it's all about detailed evidence and theory.
ANZ's bid to convince the Australian Competition Tribunal that the country's competition regulator was wrong to block its play for Suncorp Group's banking business is no different.
Monday's hearings saw ANZ barrister Ruth Higgins SC telling the court that the ACCC's arguments against the deal were highly speculative, comparing its concerns about collusion between banks to the likelihood of "meteor strike" of the courtroom.
But hearings resumed on Tuesday with a deep dive into debates over what are the relevant markets to review the potential deal and the competitive assessment of those markets. Although deep-fried chicken was added to the debate.
