FTO AUSTRALIA

So i came here cos i know most members are pretty educated. So i have this essay to do for finance and im having a bit of trouble. The question is;

Does the ongoing global financial crisis provide a justification for a significant change in the way the australian financial system is regulated ?

So of course i agree that recent actions have been necessary to try and force a change in the current economic direction of australia, but my question is.
What have these changes been ?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.

But recent actions have had nothing to do with the way our system is regulated. Recent actions have been simply to buffer our economy from the effect of falling ill prepared economies such as the yanks and poms. We have had very few financial regulatory changes as a result of the downturn. Banning 'short selling' is about the only one I can think of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_(finance)

The reson this country is in such a strong position financially compared to others is because we have such strong regulations. The reason the yanks went to sh*t is because they dont have said regulations... its the 'free market' and all of the 'its my right to lend money to whoever I like' attitude that got them into this sh*t to start with.

If you want an example of strong financial regulations, look up the '4 Pillars' policy introduced by the Howard government in the early 90's & you'll see what I mean.

Yep ben is right on the money. The only thing i disagree with is the "free market" comment, i believe a free market is a excellent for consumers and businesses alike and try and stop it lol.

But everything else is spot.

I will also just like to highlight ben's point

The reson this country is in such a strong position financially compared to others is because we have such strong regulations. The reason the yanks went to sh*t is because they dont have said regulations

Thats the money shot right there. Just try going for a home loan here compared to over there.

Thanks guys. That is a perfect answer. The reason i was having trouble was that i couldnt find anything on regulatory changes, and couldnt remember anything on the news or such.
Thanks again.

our banks before the financial crisis also needed to have a loan:asset ratio of a certain amount... once they go over that they cant lend anymore

forgot the exact ratio but look it up