Sydney - The 700-billion-US-dollar bailout package being thrashed out in the US Congress is more likely to reinforce rather than curb the risky financial dealings of investment bankers, Australia's stock exchange head said Sunday.

Maurice Newman, the chairman of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), warned that the government paying top-dollar for worthless assets would worsen the predicament of Wall Street.

"The moral hazards which are being created in the United States right now - the idea that more oversight, more regulation, the automatic default whenever there's a problem will get you out of trouble - will only make the problem worse," Newman told local television.

"I think there has been an uncritical trust that is built up in the public investors' mind that come what may we will be all right. Well, there is no money-back guarantee, unfortunately," Newman said.

Canberra officials warned that taxpayers' funds set aside to breath life back into the residential-backed mortgage market would not exceed the 4 billion Australian dollars (3.3 billion US dollars) committed last week.

"We don't have any plans to increase the amount that is involved," Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said.

The mortgage market has been in the doldrums because of the global credit crisis, sparking fears that second-tier banks and non-bank lenders will go bankrupt.

The Big Four high street banks don't have the same problems as their smaller rivals or the non-bank lenders because they raise their capital from customers' deposits rather than in the international credit market. (dpa)