APRA Chair John Laker's address to the Abacus Convention on 9 November (download here) included 2 issues that were of concern to mutual ADI's: the impact of the new liquidity requirements and the future of the government deposit guarantee.

His address was titled "Mutuals after (my emphasis) turbulent times".

Key points were:

• he emphasised the importance of doing the basics of "bread and butter banking" well: in the last 2 years no CUBS breached the capital standards and no CUBS exited under force majeure. CUBS continue to earn solid profits.
• Liquidity, asset quality and capital remain key issues.
• Good governance and board quality are also important.
• For friendly societies he mentioned benefit fund solvency and capital.
• He noted the continued reduction in the number of CUBS and the increased scale of larger credit unions.
• He noted the global influence on local standards regarding liquidity, capital and remuneration.
• In respect of the government deposit guarantee he distinguished the core guarantee (under $1M) which is locked in until October 2011  from the large deposit guarantee and discussed the relevance of what other countries were doing.