Told to curb ‘sense of justice’: CEO

SYDNEY: The chief executive of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank yesterday told a banking misconduct inquiry his predecessor had told him to curb his ‘‘sense of justice’’ when he suggested halting sales of potentially harmful insurance products.

Australia’s largest bank said last year it would have to refund about $A15 million ($NZ16 million) to 64,000 customers after selling them unsuitable insurance when they obtained home loans or credit cards.

‘‘‘Temper your sense of justice’,’’ the bank’s chief executive, Matt Comyn, said predecessor Ian Narev had told him in response to his advocacy for ceasing selling the products in 2015.

‘‘I was insufficiently persuasive,’’ he added.

Mr Comyn was the former head of retail banking who replaced Mr Narev in April in the wake of a moneylaundering scandal at the bank.

Mr Narev could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mr Comyn was testifying under oath for a second day at the powerful Royal Commission inquiry which has exposed widespread misconduct throughout Australia’s financial sector.

Commonwealth Bank chairwoman Catherine Livingstone is also expected to face questioning from leading barrister Rowena Orr this week, followed by the heads of Westpac Banking Corp, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, National Australia Bank, and investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd.

Commonwealth Bank stopped selling the poorvalue insurance products in March this year, a few days before the Royal Commission began examining misconduct in the consumer credit industry.

Mr Comyn said there had been other examples where the bank had put profits ahead of customers’ interests, including charging clients fees without providing them with any services. — Reuters