The Wire

Banks are in the headlines again with the Commonwealth Banck making a record profit of 4.8 billion dollars yet refusing to commit to reducing their interest rates if the Reserve Bank cuts the official rate when it meets early next month. So what can we do to keep banks under control? Is leaving interest rates to market forces the answer? Catherine Zengerer asked Associate Professor Steve Keen from the University of Western Sydney whether the federal government should be able to regulate the banks and direct then to follow Reserve Bank policy.