Brace for some surprises as perfect regulatory storm hits

The ACCC’s interim report on residential mortgage pricing is going to drop just as the royal commission hearings kick off.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims at a Senate Estimates hearing at Parliament House in Canberra last week. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

​Stand by for some surprises.

The word on the street is that the competition watchdog’s interim report on residential mortgage pricing is going to drop next week — the very same week as the first round of public hearings by the financial services royal commission.

As luck would have it, there’s a nice synergy between the ACCC report and the consumer lending segment to be considered by royal commissioner Ken Hayne from March 13-23.

ACCC chair Rod Sims has previously flagged there will be some “surprises” in the draft report, which will examine how the major banks balance the interests of consumers against investors in their pricing decisions. A final report will be released in June.

It’s the first body of work undertaken by the ACCC’s financial services unit, set up by the Turnbull Government last year with $17 million of funding over five years.

Once the final report is completed, the unit will kick off its market studies work, concentrating on general competition issues.

The ACCC’s new capability is the basis for Sims’ pitch for the role of competition champion in financial services.

Richard Gluyas’ next Four Pillars column will be in tomorrow’s paper

[e-mail]

Twitter: @Gluyasr