Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced on Saturday the creation of a A$4 billion package of loans aimed at the commercial property sector. The fund would include A$2 billion from the Federal Government and a matching A$2 billion from the big four banks (ANZ, Westpac, NAB and CBA). It would be open from March and be aimed at replacing funding withdrawn by foreign banks as they leave Australia. Here's a few different versions of the story. Here's The Australian's version, Bloomberg's version and the Sydney Morning Herald's version. However, there remains some doubt about this foreign funding drought. Former BNZ CEO and now NAB CEO Cameron Clyne told the Sydney Morning Herald he was sceptical. "That's in the category of myth versus reality," he says of the funding withdrawal idea.. "Like foreign bank pullouts - I haven't seen foreign banks pull out. People are saying the [credit] taps are off - we're not seeing that. In fact, we're probably seeing some inflows." * This article was first published in our daily subscription newsletter for the banking and finance industries. The email costs NZ$365 per annum and carries exclusive news and analysis for New Zealand banking and finance industry executives, regulators and investors. Sign up for a free trial here.
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