News Swan: Mutuals offer a better deal
On Sunday 21st November, Laurie Oaks interviewed the Treasurer and acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan on Channel Nine's Weekend Today show. The Treasurer made some very valid points about credit unions, banking competition and the global financial crisis. During the interview Mr Swan gave us the following quote on credit unions:
'They’re safe and they're very competitive. They're supervised in the same way that banks are supervised, and, of course, you can get a far better deal, particularly say when you're looking for a mortgage if you go to a credit union you maybe able to get up to 100 basis points better in terms of your mortgage, so I'd urge all of your viewers to consider our mutual sector, to consider our credit unions out there because you see, the big banks behave in an arrogant way because they feel confident that their customers won't walk down the street to get a better deal. So, I think, there are better deals down the street and much of what we're doing is to make the system more competitive.'
The acting Prime Minister continued to talk about the mutuals after another question from journalist Laurie Oaks:
'Well I certainly want to work with them. Something like 4-point-5 million Australians do business with our credit unions and building societies Laurie. And they do offer a better deal. They are safe. They are very competitive. I think it's really important that Australians are aware, and have the capacity to walk down the road and get a better deal.'
