Australia probes bank levy leak after shares fall

Sydney

AUSTRALIA'S corporate regulator said on Wednesday it is investigating how details of a A$6.2 billion (S$6.4 billion) banking levy were leaked, a disclosure that triggered a sell-down in the stocks of the country's five biggest banks.

"We think this is important to market integrity, which goes to the heart of the Australian market," Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) chairman Greg Medcraft told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra.