ANZ-Suncorp merger would cause 'step change' in bank market, ACCC tells tribunal
The competition regulator says a merged ANZ-Suncorp would be 3.5x the size of its nearest rival outside the Big Four — Macquarie Bank.
Just how much power does Commonwealth Bank of Australia have and does it outweigh the extra market power a combined ANZ-Suncorp Bank would have?
That's the essence of a debate that unfolded on Tuesday before the Australian Competition Tribunal, which is reviewing the competition regulator's decision to spike the ANZ bid.
An exchange between Tribunal member Diana Eilert — an executive with prior experience in Suncorp's insurance arm — and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission barrister Garry Rich SC picked up the argument in a discussion of market structure.
How do we view the major four players? Is it, as the ACCC appears to be arguing, a bunched together group? Or, as Eilert put it to the courtroom — and to Rich — "the biggest one is much more advantaged than the smallest [of the four]."
