Australian Banking system may not make it to Christmas

The troubles that have hit Australia's banking system in recent weeks reflect the deepening crisis in the global banking system, especially the eurozone, which prompted Lyndon LaRouche to warn on 8^th December that the banks may not make it to Christmas.

The National Australia Bank's so-called "technical glitches", which threw Australia's financial payments system into disarray, coincided with revelations that NAB, along with Westpac, joined the rush of panicked banks in 2008 that borrowed desperately-needed emergency funds from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

It also coincided with the shockwaves in European bond markets set off by the Irish crisis—Australia's banks were estimated back in May to have a $56 billion exposure to the eurozone, and NAB was until recently directly involved in two Irish banks and also had a sizeable exposure to the steadily collapsing Italian government bonds. (To top it off, NAB's exposure to the toxic derivatives bubble skyrocketed in the last year to $3.476 trillion, up $457 billion in just the last year!—by far the most exposure of any Australian bank.) (more)