<Li> Commonwealth Bank (CBA) (was owned by Australian Government up to 1996) </Li> <Li> Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) </Li> <Li> Westpac (WBC) </Li> <P> A longstanding policy of the federal government in Australia has been to maintain this status quo, called the "four pillars policy". The policy has been maintained through the Global Recession of 2008--09, as Westpac acquired St. George Bank and the Commonwealth Bank acquired Bankwest, reinforcing the special status of the "big four". </P>

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