Southern stars: Australian banks offer relative value

With relatively low holdings of toxic structured credit assets, Australian banks emerged from the crisis in a stronger position than their peers in other developed markets. But this is not reflected in credit spreads, presenting investors with possible relative value opportunities.

In the red corner, a bond from an Australian bank: in the blue corner, a bond from an American or European bank. Which would you expect to be in better shape? On the face of it, everything points towards the