Banks enter pact on adviser reference check and hiring standards

Sally Rose and James Eyers

Updated Sep 20, 2016 – 5.24pm, first published at 12.28pm

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The eight biggest bank-aligned financial planning businesses in the country have agreed to share more information in staff reference checks to stop "bad apples" shuffling from one job to the next.

The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) said on Tuesday that it had brokered an agreement between its members to adhere to new "hiring standards" for financial advisers. The new protocol sets minimum standards for checking references and sharing information, through a series of standardised questions and record-keeping practices.

Sally Rose is a Sydney-based reporter, who covers business, personal finance and superannuation.

James Eyers writes on banking, finance, payments, regulation and emerging technologies. Based in Sydney, he is a former legal and investment banking editor at the AFR and has been a business journalist for more than 20 years.