Competition Laws, ACCC and the Banking Sector

The Competition Chief, giving evidence before the Senate inquiry into Banking and Finance, has stated that before the introduction of the Competition and Consumer Laws, banks were able to signal behaviour to achieve collusive outcomes without breaching laws regarding cartels.

Foreign jurisdictions such as the EU had regulations under which businesses could be prosecuted for such "signalling behaviour" without any need to show the recipient of the pricing signal had entered any understanding with the signaller. However, it is only with the introduction of the Competition and Consumer Laws that this kind of regulation has become the norm for Australia.

Do you think the new cartel provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act go far enough to prevent collusive behaviour? Is it something only rife in the Banking industry or does it extend further afield?