In an interview with John Stanley and Sandy Aloisi on Radio 2UE on 22 November 2010, Mr. Swan said:
"Well, Sandy what concerns me is we get the policy right for the long-term and what also concerns me is that Australian consumers get a fair deal. The truth is that the big banks have been behaving badly and the point I made yesterday is that we need a new pillar in the banking system based on the competitive power of our mutual sector - our building societies and our credit unions - because you see the big banks are behaving badly because they believe that their customers simply won't walk down the road to get a better deal. So I'd urge consumers and customers out there to have a look around because if you look at the credit unions and building societies you can get a better deal up to 1 full percentage point when it comes to your home mortgage. "
"For example, if your listeners were to go onto www.abacus.org.au they will see some good value that's out there and that's the message we need to send to the banks, and that is why we need a range of reforms to make our banking sector more competitive. There's no one single measure here that's a magic bullet, but there's a range of reforms that we need and we've already put in place a range of reforms already that make it easier for people to move their account. "
In an interview with Jon Faine on ABC Radio 774 on 22 November 2010, Mr Swan said:
"Yeah, I am serious. I'm absolutely serious. I've had a home for 30 years, so I've paid off my mortgage. My accounts are spread across a number of financial institutions, but I tell you what, I'm looking at credit unions because just to all of your listeners out there if they wanted to say, have a look at what might be available through the mutual sector, if they went to www.abacus.org.au they would see that on a on a mortgage, there would be deals there where they could save $30,000 over the life of the loan. But what I'd urge them all to do is to have a look around, not just at the credit unions and building societies, but the smaller regional banks and so on, just to see where they can get a better deal because the big four will understand there's a problem when their customers start to walk down the street."
