Who said royal commissions don't matter? For as long as Labor was holding out the prospect of one in the lead up to the election, the banks behaved themselves.

On the first Tuesday in May, as Labor ramped up its rhetoric about a commission and the Prime Minister prepared to call the election, the big four banks passed on almost every cent of the Reserve Bank's 0.25 point rate cut. Westpac, the Commonwealth and the NAB passed on the entire 0.25 points, the ANZ passed on 0.19.

But with the election out of the way and the Coalition returned (with financial support from the banks that will be revealed shortly) they are once again acting as they would have were their behaviour not about be dissected by a royal commission: they are hanging on to a good deal of the largess the Reserve Bank handed them on Tuesday and using it to shore up their profits instead of helping their customers.

No other Australian businesses, with the possible exception of Telstra, act as if they have the right to maintain their profits no matter what. Most are busy cutting their margins to keep customers.