Wallis to Murray: refining Australia's financial regulatory system

The global financial crisis renewed interest in the financial regulatory system across the world. We examine, in the Australian regulatory context, whether the objectives of Wallis Inquiry have been met and whether the Murray recommendations would help address the desired competition and regulatory public policy objectives. We extend the prior work of Thomson and Abbott (2000b). We found that the Wallis Inquiry did help strike an appropriate balance between competition and stability. In our view, though the Murray Inquiry takes the agenda further there are several areas in which its policy prescriptions are found wanting.