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Hayne's Interim Report on the Banking Royal Commission has been released - all 1003 pages of it. For your convenience, we've included an initial summary below.
Our daily newsletters resume on November 19th for Round 7 on policy. In the meantime our Royal Commission Watch articles are here.
Top occurrences of note:
- "Much more often than not, the conduct now condemned was contrary to law." Commissioner Hayne
- "The two key take outs for me have been that greed has permeated the culture, the compliance of the sector and secondly, the misconduct has gone to a large degree unpunished" - Minister Josh Frydenberg
- "It's a day of shame for the banks" - Anna Bligh, ABA
- "It is difficult to face the statement of 'profits before people' but this is exactly what we need to confront" - Andrew Thorburn, NAB
- "If elected... [we] will establish a financial services royal commission implementation taskforce to reform the culture of profit-over-people...The taskforce...will work closely with victims" - Tanya Plibersek, Acting Leader of the Opposition
Interim Report Executive Summary [Full version here]
- In his Interim Report Commissioner Kenneth Hayne sets out two key questions in relation to the exposed misconduct of banks, loan intermediaries and financial advice entities: why did it happen and what can be done to avoid it happening again?
- Too often, Hayne argues, the answer seems to be greed and the pursuit of short-term profit, at the expense of basic standards of honesty.
- “How else,” Hayne writes, “is charging continuing advice fees to the dead to be explained?”
- Hayne claims "selling" has become the "sole focus" of financial institutions and blasts regulators, ASIC and APRA, for falling down in their duties.
Highlights of Hayne’s Executive Summary:
- For many banks and financial services entities, selling services and products became the sole focus of their attention.
- When misconduct was revealed, it either went unpunished or the consequences did not meet the seriousness of what had been done.
- The law already requires entities to ‘do all things necessary to ensure’ that the services they are licensed to provide are provided ‘efficiently, honestly and fairly’. Much more often than not, the conduct now condemned was contrary to law.
- Should the existing law be administered or enforced differently, to better reflect the ideas of not misleading or deceiving; acting fairly; providing services that are fit for purpose; delivering services with reasonable care and skill; and, when acting for another, acting in the best interests of that other?
The Treasurer's introductory speech (summarised)
- Speaking to the press, Josh Frydenberg said banks and other financial institutions have put profits before people and that the culture and conduct of the banks was, in the words of the Commissioner, “driven by, and reflected in, their remuneration practices and policies”. This was coupled with deficiencies in governance and risk management.
- Frydenberg said that almost every piece of conduct criticised in this report can be connected directly to some monetary benefit from engaging in the conduct.
- Rules, systems, processes aand practices are necessary… but having the right culture depends upon people having the right standards and doing their job properly.
- While behaviour was poor, misconduct – when revealed – either went unpunished or the consequences didn’t meet the seriousness of what was done.
- ASIC rarely went to court to seek denunciation and punishment of misconduct. Little happened beyond an apology from the entity, drawn-out remediation, infringement notice, or enforceable undertaking, that acknowledged ASIC had concerns about conduct. ASIC imposed immaterial penalties.
- Entities have been treated in ways that would allow them to think that they – not ASIC, Parliament or the courts – would decide how the breach would be remedied.
- What can be done to prevent the conduct happening again? More often than not, the conduct now condemned was contrary to the law.
- So are new laws required, or do existing ones need to be better enforced? Should the existing law be simplified rather than adding complexity to an already complex regulatory regime?
- This interim report is a frank and scathing assessment of the culture, conduct and of our finance system, said Frydenberg, and Government will take the action necessary to restore the public’s trust.
- Australians expect the consumer to come first, second and third. These entities have an obligation under their license to behave fairly and honestly.
- Frydenberg stressed, of his party, that “We are the ones…we are the ones” taking action. And spoke of “the greed that has permeated the culture…and gone unpunished”.
The Opposition's speech (summarised)
- Acting Labor leader Tanya Plibersek promised to establish a royal commission task force inside Treasury to act on any recommendations from the final report.
- Plibersek implied, of the timing, that the Government have released the report on a Friday in a move akin to taking out the trash. Worse, a Friday of a long weekend, and worse still, a footy grand final long weekend. (In response to a question about the timing, Frydenberg had said that the report came to the government today and was too important to the community to sit on.)
- Plibersek emphasised her party had called for the Commission 2.5 yrs ago, while the Liberals held out against it for a long while, and cut ASIC's budget twice.
- Plibersek said it was a false and convenient claim for the banks to make that “if they are forced to do the right thing, credit will dry up”. “We’ve heard it before and I don’t credit it”, she said.
- She said there was a strong case to extend the Commission "to hear from more victims".
Related News so far:
- Bank shares and the ASX jumped up today after the report was released - not surprising given there were no financial penalties announced, and that this week bank stocks were in the red, awaiting the Report.
- Submissions on past conduct also close today, with the door being shut on public submissions next month. The final report is due 1 February 2019.
- What has the media picked up on? "Profits over People"; "Regulators get it in the neck"; "A day of shame"; "Hayne blasts 'greed' of big banks'"; "Report shows urgent need for bank reform"; "Australians deserve better"; "Bank misconduct driven by greed and soft-touch treatment"; "Out of control greed, weak regulators behind banking scandals".
For more insights and our weekly review of the Royal Commission, please visit our blog.
