Day 342: 'Temper your sense of justice'
An introductory weekday newsletter from Schwartz Media. Counting the days since the banking royal commission was established.
Good afternoon and welcome to day 342.
Today in summary: Commonwealth Bank Chair Catherine Livingstone says she was surprised the board asked so few questions of the bank’s management team; current chief Matt Comyn throws more shade on the bank’s former leaders; and NAB will roll out a program to get better information from loan applicants.
-- Charis
Current banker panic level: 😱
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Commonwealth Bank chairman Catherine Livingstone continues to give evidence to the Hayne royal commission, despite a glitch that saw the live feed go down, forcing the commission to adjourn briefly.
Livingstone, who spent 10 months as a CBA board member before becoming chairman, told the commission she was surprised the board asked so few questions of the executive team at the time.
"I was quite surprised by the - the lack of challenge."
Livingstone described the sequence of events since she took on the role, including exposure of fees for no service, run ins with regulators and the entire royal commission as “a fairly damning chronology”.
The live blogs are still live, it’s like the Olympics of journalism transcribing:
ABC | AFR | Sydney Morning Herald | The Australian | The Guardian
Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn has detailed even more instances of concerns he raised about questionable insurance products being ignored by former chief Ian Narev. Comyn provided a damning note in which he records being told by Narev to “temper your sense of justice”.
Orr: "And how did you feel about that comment from the CEO?"
Comyn: "I suspect I was slightly irritated"
Asked by Orr why he didn’t go around Narev and report his concerns to the board, Comyn said the current chairman is very different to the former directors.
"I think the chairman at that point of time would have relied on - solely on Mr Narev's recommendation.
"I think the chairman today would be influenced by my recommendation but would be very interested if anyone on my team had an alternative view."
NAB chief Andrew Thorburn recently said the bank would stop chasing new business with aggressive discounts and reward loyal customers, and tomorrow the bank will roll out a new “Broker Interview Guide” program to make it easier for brokers to explain to customers why their loan application was rejected.
"The BIG will detail key elements of your conversations with your customers that can be referred to in order to understand the customer's situation in detail and provide reasoning for the solutions that have been offered.”
Today’s burn prize: CBA chief Matt Comyn
🔥🔥🔥
"History is littered with banks, even big ones, who try to take on the broker channel and lose."
Former Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev’s response to Matt Comyn’s plan to change broker payments to a fee-based model.
The Commentariat
Former CBA chief Ian Narev’s decision to ignore Matt Comyn’s warnings on questionable insurance products was “a stinker”, writes the AFR’s Chanticleer.
“This was a good morning for Comyn, who over the course of his two days in the witness box has slowly built up an image of someone who actually campaigned inside the bank for product reforms that would have protected customers, including changing mortgage broker commissions.”
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