Like a packet of Winfield cigarettes, ASX-listed hybrids are distinctly Australian, and have been around long enough and with enough scare campaigns and hazard labels to assume that consumers know the dangers.

But a statement late last week from the prudential regulator raised the distinct possibility that bank hybrids will be put behind the counter – if not removed from the retail shelves altogether. The move poses an existential threat to the sub-sector of the capital markets and has implications for the stockbroking industry and the cost of capital for banks and insurers.