Treasurer Scott Morrison ‘cynical, dishonest’ on CBA: Chris Bowen

Chris Bowen says Scott Morrison should explain his comments on CBA resignations, describing them as “cynical and dishonest”.

Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has accused Treasurer Scott Morrison of being “cynical and dishonest” in calling for further resignations at the Commonwealth Bank, after yesterday’s damning APRA report.

The prudential regulator investigated the bank’s culture following allegations the CBA broke anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws almost 54,000 times, finding its continued financial success dulled the board and executive’s senses to signals that might have alerted them to problems.

Mr Morrison yesterday said the report was a wake up call for every board member of an Australian company and more heads should role at the CBA.

However, Mr Bowen said he did not see any reason for further resignations at this stage.

“This was a very serious report, a damning report, but what we believe, is that it would have been better if we’d had a full report into the financial services industry delivered by the royal commission by now,” he told ABC radio.

“The Treasurer yesterday was huffing and puffing and trying to associate himself with tough action, when in fact he had been the key player in delaying a royal commission.

“He seemed to imply that he knew more, that there were more executives going, when in fact I can only assume what he’s referring to was the normally already scheduled retirement of two long-serving directors of the Commonwealth Bank board.

“The Treasurer needs to explain his comments yesterday. Clearly a number of changes have been made at the Commonwealth Bank recently.

“If the Treasurer thinks the chairman or others should go, he’s entitled to that view. Instead I think he’s associated himself in quite a cynical and dishonest way with changes that were already underway.”

Asked whether he was likely to change his mind on resignations at the Commonwealth Bank, Mr Bowen said the bank’s chair Catherine Livingstone had only been in her position since January 2017.

“Calling for the resignation of a chair or senior directors is a very serious undertaking and should not be undertaken lightly,” he said.

“We made some comments about AMP (whose chair Catherine Brenner resigned this week) after careful consideration.

“We’re not just going to rush out every time there’s a difficult report and say the chairman should resign or board members should resign.

“The Treasurer can engage in his hyperventilation and make up for his lack of action. We’ve got the track record of calling for the action, calling for the royal commission, calling for real action.

Treasurer Scott Morrison. Picture: Kym Smith.

“The Treasurer’s engaged in a two year alibi to try and avoid action and now he’s trying to play desperate catch-up and he’s hyperventilating and looking ridiculous as he does it.”

Mr Bowen said he did not believe the bank had got off lightly after being forced to top up its minimum capital levels by $1 billion as punishment.

“No. I think it was a serious decision by APRA,” he said.

“It’s not unprecedented, but it is very unusual. It hasn’t happened for a very long time.

“What APRA is effectively saying is that we are so concerned that we’re going to require you to keep more capital because of increased risk. That’s a very serious undertaking for APRA to engage in.”

Mr Bowen said a Labor government would agree to any requests banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne made to broaden the investigation’s terms of reference or extend the time available for the probe.

Asked whether he banked with one of the big banks, Mr Bowen said he did not.

“It’s not really about my personal circumstances. As it happens I don’t, I bank with a credit union, but many millions of Australians do bank with the major four banks, and they’re entitled to know that they’re being treated appropriately,” he said.

“Clearly there are very serious issues here which we’ve long been saying should be dealt with through a holistic, systemic inquiry.”