Friday release off the agenda as Canberra alert to Hayne’s ability to roil markets

The potential for a sudden market reaction to Ken Hayne’s final report has taken a Friday release off the table.

03/08/2018 POOL PICS Royal Commission into misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry Commissioner Kenneth Hayne makes his opening comments.Picture : David Geraghty / The Australian.

The vexed issue of when to release the market-sensitive final report of financial services royal commissioner Ken Hayne will be determined by tomorrow.

The monster report, which is likely to run to thousands of pages, has the potential to upend business models, create share-price mahyem and prematurely end — or at least call into question — some executive careers.

For these and other reasons, it will not be released on Friday, which is Hayne’s deadline to hand the report to the Governor-General.

This won’t please shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, who has called on Josh Frydenberg to release the document on the same day he receives it, repeating the process adopted for the interim report.

The problem with Bowen’s call is that the interim review merely asked a series of policy questions, whereas this time around Hayne will be making industry-shaping recommendations.

Frydenberg has a limited number of alternatives.

He could opt for a Sunday release, or a grand unveiling sometime before or after the market closes.

The Treasurer has said he is looking forward to receiving Hayne’s report by February 1 and “considering its recommendations as we continue to reform the financial sector”.

“The Government recognises the potential market sensitivity of the final report and will take this into account in considering the timing of the release,” he said.

Market sensitivity has assumed overriding importance after the Budget in May 2017, when bank share prices gyrated in response to a leak about the planned $6 billion levy on the major banks.

E-mail: [e-mail]

Twitter: @Gluyasr