The Liberal-National Government has today welcomed the interim report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry and tabled it in Parliament.
The Government established the Royal Commission on 14 December 2017 with a broad remit to inquire into the practices of financial institutions. The Government provided funding of $75 million to enable the Commission to undertake its work. The Commission has already held six rounds of hearings and received more than 9,000 submissions.
The interim report and the Royal Commission's hearings to date make clear that some financial institutions have fallen far short of treating Australians honestly and fairly.
The Government is committed to taking strong action to reform the financial sector and has continued to progress a comprehensive reform agenda to better protect consumers, ensure institutions and their executives are held to account for illegal behaviour and the financial system is safe and robust. The Government has:
- established the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) – a new one-stop shop to resolve customer complaints;
- created a framework to hold banking executives accountable for their actions (Banking Executive Accountability Regime);
- boosted banking and financial services competition to benefit customers; and
- provided the Australian Securities and Investments Commission with an additional $70 million of funding, significant new powers and appointed Deputy Chair Daniel Crennan QC with a key focus on enforcement action.
There is clearly more work to be done and the Government looks forward to receiving the Royal Commission's final report, which is due by 1 February 2019, and acting on its recommendations.
The Government thanks Commissioner Hayne and the Commission for their outstanding efforts to date.
The interim report can be accessed on the Royal Commission's webpage.
