Stock market analysts and business journalists have been busy churning out “winners and losers” lists under a Rudd government and The Australian’s John Durie produced this very interesting story today suggesting the banking cartel are about to push through more interest rate rises on their long suffering customers.

New Treasurer Wayne Swan was very keen not to frighten the banking horses during the election campaign, when his distanced himself from Peter Costello’s jawboning on interest rate rises and said: “I’m not in the business of giving banks advice one way or the other.”

Contrast that with Paul Keating’s comment in The Latham Diaries that the one thing which would tempt him back into Federal parliament would be a chance to “f*ck the banks.”

Having seen ANZ lift its foreign ATM fee from $1.50 to $2 on election day, there’s no reason Keating’s anger should subside.

Swan’s apparent indifference to bank gouging appears to be accepted by the market as Commonwealth Bank shares rocketed $1.10 to $58.30 yesterday, capitalising the bank that was sold for about $10 billion by taxpayers at $76.58 billion, although the stock retraced $1.33 this morning.

If Swan looks after Australian consumers and decides they deserve more than the world’s most expensive banking system, CBA shares will fall, although all banks will benefit from huge fees on the Labor-loved superannuation gravy train.

One saving grace for CBA might be the fact Swan’s Queensland ALP division has made many tens of millions of dollars from its shareholding in the bank. This is what The AFR reported on 22 February, 2005, after interviewing Ian Brusasco, the man responsible for managing Labor’s Queensland investments:

The largest dividends came from the Commonwealth Bank, which has returned at least $24 million to Labor Holdings – more than one third of the dividends received over the past decade.

Brusasco says the company’s significant shares in Metway Bank – before it merged with the insurance company, Suncorp – was one of the highlights of his six years at the helm of Labor Holdings.

The AFR reports today about Wayne Swan and Lindsay Tanner’s “Operation Sunshine” – the push to make budgets more transparent under a continuous disclosure regime when forecasts prove inaccurate.

This approach should be spread to political party balance sheets and investments because it is a disgrace that Labor can hide its huge bank holdings from the public.

Having banged on about the bank cartel for years, I certainly hope there won’t be a need to run against Wayne Swan in 2010.

Click here  for few old Crikey articles Swan should take a look at as he decides between the chainsaw and the meat axe in his approach to bank profits, along with an audio file of an exchange with Virginia Trioli on 702 ABC Sydney this morning.