PM Scott Morrison warns banks, ASIC and may extend inquiry

THE big banks and regulators have been put on notice by the Morrison government to fix their culture of “greed and dishonesty” in the wake of the scathing interim report by the financial services royal commission.

THE big banks and regulators have been put on notice by the Morrison government to fix their culture of “greed and dishonesty” in the wake of the scathing interim report by the financial services royal commission.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is prepared to extend the banking royal commission in the wake of the blistering findings of widespread mistreatment of customers and chronic failures by the regulators.

FAT CAT CULTURE TO BLAME FOR BANKS’ DAY OF SHAME

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Labor has ramped up its call to hold more hearings to give more victims of financial misconduct to their stories, with only 27 customers so far heard from out of the 9300 submissions.

Mr Morrison on Friday said Commissioner Kenneth Hayne hadn’t asked the government to extend the inquiry, but if he did “he will get one”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is prepared to extend the banking royal commission in the wake of the blistering findings of widespread mistreatment of customers and chronic failures by the regulators. Picture: Kym Smith

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the interim report showed the culture and conduct of the financial sector had fallen far short of community standards, with corporate watchdog ASIC rarely going to court to try to punish the banks.

“What is clear from the report is that too often the regulator would seek a negotiated outcome as opposed to taking the next step which would be to litigate and to make these entities face court,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“I think it was a strategy which saw the regulator working to closely with the sector that they were regulating.

“The two key takeouts for me have been that greed has permeated the culture... and secondly, the misconduct has gone to a large degree unpunished.”

Acting Opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said the Coalition government “fought tooth and nail” against establishing a royal commission to ‘protect the banks’. Picture: AAP

The treasurer didn’t rule out making further changes to ASIC’s enforcement and compliance to crackdown on dodgy behaviour, saying his government had already injected an additional $70 million into the corporate watchdog.

Acting Opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said the Coalition government “fought tooth and nail” against establishing a royal commission to “protect the banks”.

“Scott Morrison voted against this royal commission 26 times,” she said.

“The Liberals have never taken this seriously, they were dragged kicking and screaming into holding a royal commission and they gave it an unreasonably short timeframe.”

Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh said the report was a further wakeup call to the banks to lift their game in quickly fixing their issues, adding there was “nothing” for banks to feel proud of.

“Customers expect these problems to be identified and fixed as soon as possible,” she said.

“Clearly this report shows there’s a lot of work to be done.”

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