Heritage Bank CEO hits Canberra to support #MoreThan4 campaign

20 August 2018

Heritage Bank CEO Peter Lock has travelled to Canberra this week to support a new campaign called #MoreThan4 which calls on the Federal Government to make banking more competitive by not forcing smaller banks to carry the same regulatory burden as the big four.   

The campaign, launched by the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA), seeks to move Australia’s banking regulatory regime from a one size fits all approach to one that is more proportionate for smaller players. 

Heritage CEO Peter Lock is in Canberra from tomorrow (Tuesday, 21 August) with other COBA representatives for two days of meetings with MPs to lobby for change. 

“The high regulatory costs on customer owned institutions such as ours mean our banking market isn’t as competitive as it should be,” Mr Lock said. 

“At Heritage, we strongly believe a proportionate regulatory regime would allow us to grow and deliver even more for customers in our community. 

“Smaller institutions face higher regulatory costs compared to major banks. Keeping regulation proportionate will boost competition in retail banking. 

“We support a new approach to regulation that recognises there are #MoreThan4 banking institutions.” 

Mr Lock said the simple fact was that the major banks in Australia were many times bigger than institutions like Heritage, yet the smaller banks were being forced to comply with the same level of regulatory requirements. 

“It’s just not fair that on one hand the big banks benefit from their size in a number of ways, such as access to cheaper funds, yet smaller institutions don’t benefit from having a proportionately smaller regulatory burden,” he said. 

“We encourage our community to support the #MoreThan4 campaign, so we can create a regulatory regime that leads to more competition, choice and better outcomes for consumers. 

“Proportionate regulation is good policy, and the need for a new approach to regulation is urgent.”