Bank bosses to face the music at inquiry
ROYAL commissioner Kenneth Hayne QC is expected to “apply a blowtorch” to bank bosses over the greed-driven misconduct in the financial services industry.
The chief executives of the big four banks and AMP are among those appearing at the commission’s final public hearing, along with the heads of regulators criticised by Mr Hayne for letting much of the misconduct go unpunished.
They will have to be armed with more than apologies when they appear, starting today with Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn and chairwoman Catherine Livingstone.
Consumer advocacy group Choice chief executive Alan Kirkland said the interim report raised questions about how the misconduct happened that had yet to be fully answered.
“I don’t think of any of them have got adequate answers so far,” Mr Kirkland said.
“I think that’s where he’ll be really applying a blowtorch to people like Matt Comyn and Catherine Livingstone.”
He said Australia’s largest bank blamed pockets of poor culture for the misconduct, but it was clear there were systemic problems across the industry.
He expects the CEOs to be grilled about how such prob- lems happened on their watch and what they were doing to stop it happening again.
“The sheer dollars involved that they’ve already had to refund or set aside for refunds — these are not small mistakes, they’re massive systemic errors,” Mr Kirkland said.
The final public hearing will look at the causes of the misconduct and possible responses, including regulatory reform.
“I would expect the royal commission will be asking tough questions around what are they going to do to fix their remuneration structures so they’re not creating incentives for consumers to be ripped off,” Mr Kirkland said.
Australian Banking Association chief Anna Bligh said the industry had committed to tackling key areas, saying issues demanded swift action.
It included overhauling staff pay and the treatment of deceased estates, ending fees for no service, reforming commissions for mortgage brokers and supporting legislation to end grandfathered payments to financial advisers.
“Tackling these issues are an important start, however the industry acknowledges that there is more to be done,” Ms Bligh said.