Bank merger reports sought

Press, 19 May 1981, Page 3

Bank merger reports sought

Wellington reporter The Government will not consider the implications of the merger between the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Bank of Australia until next week'at the earliest. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) confirmed yesterday that he had called for reports on the merger from both the Treasury Department and the Reserve Bank, but evaluation of the merger would wait until after the Australian Government had confirmed the agreement

reached under the C.E.K. talks with the Australian Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Doug Anthony) last week. The agreement to which Mr Muldoon referred was that on financial sector investment, and the Australian Government is expected to confirm this within the next

few days, after which the details will be announced jointly. “It will be considered carefully in the light of this new arrangement with Australia and in the light of the details revealed by those reports,” he said.