This week marked the true beginning of serious research for me. I think I have used every single database available to me as a UOW student and have lost track of the amount of times I’ve typed in “Royal Commission”, “Banking Royal Commission” “Regulation of Australian Banks” “Cause of changes in share prices”, “Four Pillar Policy” “Supervision of Banks” “Efficiency of Australian Banks” into these search engines.
The perfect metaphor for the research journey for me is that of a rabbit’s warren. The further I start digging, the more I uncover and the broader my topic becomes. I have decided that if I am researching the effects of the Royal Commission into the Bank’s Performance, it is important to firstly understand the nature of regulation and supervision in the Banking Industry. My research so far has been centred around the regulation surrounding banks in Australia and how this effects their performance in a market economy that supports deregulation. Further, it has been interesting to note the effects of the Four-Pillars Policy on banking efficiency in Australia. In investigating further into this area of regulation, I have also been reading on the BASEL accords and its effect on the performance of banks. All of this is preliminary secondary research which has given an indication of how the banks normally react to changes in the regulatory sphere, setting up context for how the banks ‘should’ react to the findings of the Royal Commission. I believe understanding the context of the climate of the Australian Financial sector is necessary to conduct my own unbiased and well-informed research.
While there has been a multitude of research conducted into the above, what I am finding most difficult is the lack of academic literature surrounding the Royal Commission itself. I alluded to this issue last week but after further extensive research, I have realised it is too early/too soon for academics to have been writing on this topic. This seems to be a road-block in my research, and I will really have to turn to newspaper publications (such as the Australian Financial Review) for academic literature into the bank’s reaction to the Royal Commission. This is something I have begun and hope to expand upon in the coming week. There is definitely not a shortage of media articles surrounding the Commission, it will just be a mission to select the articles which are well-researched and not biased (as we all know news can be! #fakenews). So far, it has been interesting to read how Westpac, CBA, NAB and ANZ have reacted differently to the findings of the Royal Commission, and I am hoping my primary data that I will acquire shortly will also reflect the findings of the literature I have read so far.
While I have briefly looked into acquiring my data (which I know is readily available due to the nature of the big four banks being publicly listed companies), this has not been a focus of my research this week, and will look into this in the coming week.
To be completely honest, I feel like I have fallen down the rabbit’s warren multiple times this week with my research and keep delving deeper than necessary, which is setting me back in terms of time management. I know I need to focus on my initial research questions, and stick to them!
– Alexia #FW
Alexia's attempt at uncovering the effects of the Banking Royal Commission ... in 10 weeks 
Perseverance will prove to be a gift to you Alexia! There has been a lot of research, planning and time management skills demanded of you in the past few weeks, that I too can truly relate to. What I can say to you (at a student to student level) is that you are not the only one finding yourself in “rabbit’s warren”. Secondary research I have also found to be a full-time job recently, not only with synthesising the data but also attempting to determine its reliability. However, you have done an excellent job in utilising the amenities provided by the Uni and I’m sure they will pay off for you.
I note that you address the Four-Pillars Policy and how it works with the efficiency of Australian banks. Not too long ago in fact, I read that the consumer watchdog (ACCC) put this policy under further examination as they had begun to question the intent of the policy and whether it was really delivering what the institution had set out for. May be some food for thought…
I also see you are accessing a fair amount of data leads that predominately provide qualitative data. You may or may not have used Yahoo-finance before, but I believe it would be of great use for you in this research task. As you are wanting to capture a snapshot of how share prices of the Big Four Banks react to the Royal Commission, Yahoo-finance is a easy and workable site for this analysis which you use to further triangulate with your primary data and secondary data.
A notable strength of yours is that you very aware of when you begin to drift off topic and manage to grab yourself just in time. This will come to your advantage is many more instances further down this research journey and I look forward to reading how you overcome this challenge of information overload in your next post.
All the best!
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