Australian banks ‘unquestionably strong’ despite global uncertainty in sector, RBA says

Assistant governor of the Reserve Bank, Christopher Kent, says that the liquidity and capital of Australian banks is ‘well above regulatory requirements’. Photograph: AAP

Australia’s banks are “unquestionably strong” amid “strained” conditions in global financial markets after the collapse earlier this month of Silicon Valley Bank, according to Christopher Kent, an assistant governor of the Reserve Bank.

In the RBA’s first public comments since the bank’s failure, Kent told the KangaNews DCM Summit in Sydney on Monday that “volatility in Australian financial markets has picked up but markets are still functioning”.