SYDNEY: Australia’s corporate regulator said on Wednesday it is investigating how details of a A$6.2 billion (S$6.4 billion) banking levy were leaked, a disclosure that triggered a sell-down in the stocks of the country’s five biggest banks. “We think this is important to market integrity, which goes to the heart of the Australian market,” Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) chairman Greg Medcraft told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra.
The government’s plans to slap a 6-basis point tax on the banks’ liabilities were leaked to the media before the official announcement on May 9. The affected banks – Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) , Westpac Banking Corp, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, National Australia Bank Ltd and Macquarie Group Ltd – have strongly opposed the levy.
