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Australian bankers are among the most anxious in the world,
with their worry levels at record highs as they believe the
world is teetering on a fresh financial crisis, a report finds.

The Banking Banana Skins 2012 report found Australian financial
industry participants reported anxiety levels of 3.28 out of
five, compared to 3.15 for the rest of the world.

It was a record global anxiety level in the 13-year history of
the report by the Centre for the Study of Financial Information
and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

The study found an acute sense of vulnerability among
Australian bankers as they believed they were at the mercy to
overseas events largely beyond their control.

However, PwC banking and capital markets leader Stuart Scoular
said Australian banks were well positioned to capitalise on any
weakness in the global environment.

Australian respondents felt more confident about handling the
risks than the global average and fresh ructions to global
banking could open a window for Australian banks to expand
offshore, he said.

The poll of more than 700 bankers, regulators and industry
observers globally (18 Australian) found that the top risk in
2012 was the state of the world economy caused by the threat of
sovereign default by several European nations.

The next biggest issues were credit risks and liquidity.

Australian survey respondents differed, rating political
interference their second biggest risk; emerging market
concerns ninth compared with 22nd globally and a high
dependence on technology rated at six here compared with 18th
globally.

Mr Scoular said Australians were less pre-occupied with capital
availability and corporate governance while technology
dependence had crept higher.

'This relates to the fact that many Australian banks continue
with significant system infrastructure projects, with any
delivery-related issues potentially having a significant
impact, not only on customers, but also the banks' reputation,'
he said.

Australian respondents resented new banking rules they said
were unjust and designed to curb behaviours that were never a
problem for the Australian system.

The extra burden caused new costs at a time when banks were
trying to trim costs to cope with headwinds battering revenue
growth, Mr Scoular said.

More than 3000 banks jobs have already been slashed from the
sector, with ANZ recently flagging it would shed hundreds more
positions.

Globally, the European debt crisis is the most obvious concern
but there is also lingering unease over emerging markets -
China's growth in particular - and whether it could continue to
act as a counterbalance to the weakness weighing on much of the
developed world.

Mr Scoular said that although China remained a global growth
engine, strains were building domestically including the threat
of asset price bubbles, an undercapitalised banking system and
lack of regulation.

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Anxiety levels at record high in banking