In the Rugby World Cup of Banking Occupation – Win, Lose or Draw, its HSBC

Today, New Zealand and Australia go head to head in rugby for the William Webb Ellis Trophy, otherwise known as the Rugby World Cup.

Both sides have held the trophy twice previously, with the All Blacks the current reigning world champions, and the HSBC sponsored Australian Wallabies the much improved underdogs.

England meanwhile, a previous champion in 2003 became the first host nation to be eliminated in the pool stage of the Tournament, and was notably out performed by its smaller home rivals Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Todays trans-Tasman clash is also a meeting of the world leaders in another category. Australia and New Zealand top the field in terms of occupation by foreign banking colonisers.

Australia and New Zealand share the tag of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world, according to research produced by the IMF, with the “big four” Australian and NZ banks controlling 75% of all bank assets.

Australian and New Zealand banks are the most profitable in the world. Take a look at the beneficial owners of the big four banks, and another picture emerges. The big four New Zealand banks, are in fact, owned and controlled by the big four Australian banks.

Ownership of the big four Australian banks is in turn, controlled by UK and American banks, with HSBC and JP Morgan controlling around 30% of all Australian big four bank shares between them.

Viewed in map form via Open Corporates, lets explore at the antipodean corporate structure of the “Vampire Squid” – the mega-networked American investment bank Goldman Sachs which controls entities in New Zealand via a regional hub in Australia.

Thankfully for the US and UK banksters, the former colonies are yet to awaken to the true extent and implications of their financial occupation.

When they do, New Zealand and Australian residents might awaken to find their flags appear something like this…