We love finance and we love trivia. You can test your finance trivia knowledge with the following questions.

This is Part 8 in our ongoing financial trivia series. Scroll down below to find the answers.

 

Q1. Which of Australia’s ‘Big Four’ banks is the oldest?

a. NAB b. ANZ c. Westpac d. Commonwealth

 

Q2. How many countries have a banking system dominated by the ‘Big 4’?

a. 1 b. 16 c. 26 d. 46

 

Q3. Which ‘Big Four’ Australian bank was founded in London?

a. NAB b. ANZ c. Westpac d. Commonwealth

 

 

Quiz answers are below.

 

Answers

Q1. Which of Australia’s ‘Big Four’ banks is the oldest?

Answer c. Westpac.

In 1817 the Bank of NSW was created under a charter given by Governor Macquarie (technically he didn’t have the power to do so!) who was appalled by the anarchy in the colony. In 1982 it took the name ‘Westpac’ as the bank sought to dominate the Western Pacific region.

 

Q2. How many countries have a banking system dominated by the ‘Big 4’?

Answer d. 46.

It is quite common for countries to have a ‘Big Four’ banking system. The UK has HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, and RBS while the US has Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Other countries include China, France, India and Russia. However, few countries have a ‘Big Four’ that control a whopping 80-85% of the market as they do in Australia.

One such country is New Zealand where their Big 4 banks control ~90% of the market. The Big 4 banks in New Zealand are ANZ, Westpac, Bank of New Zealand (owned by NAB) and ASB Bank (owned by CBA).

 

Q3. Which ‘Big Four’ bank was founded in London?

Answer b. ANZ.

ANZ began in London when The Bank of Australasia was established under Royal Charter in 1835. NAB was founded in 1858 and CBA was founded under the Commonwealth Bank Act of 1911.

 

We hope you enjoyed doing our finance quiz as much as we did writing it. Let us know what you think or let us know if you have some great finance trivia questions!

As always, make smart financial decisions.