Day 367: 'Screaming for us to fix the problem'
An introductory weekday newsletter from Schwartz Media. Counting the days since the banking royal commission was established.
Good afternoon and welcome to day 367.
Today in summary: Federal Labor signals its plans for responding to the Hayne royal commission; ASIC takes AMP, and its lawyers Clayton Utz to court for failing to produce documents; and ANZ makes nice with mortgage brokers as it prepares to demand more of them.
-- Charis
Current banker panic level: 😨😨
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Federal Labor is on day two of its 48th national conference where it sets out its policies and platform for the future. One addition is a plan for a “Royal Commission Implementation Taskforce” to deliver on Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations. The taskforce would sit inside Treasury. Labor finance spokeswoman Clare O’Neil told the conference the focus of Labor’s response would be on ensuring all customers wronged by the banks were compensated.
"Here we have a once-in-a-generation where the Australian public is screaming for us to fix the problem."
Labor also wants to pursue law reform with a focus on consumer protection.
ASIC will be stepping into court with AMP and its lawyers Clayton Utz just one week after Commissioner Hayne hands down his final report in February, if the regulator gets its way. ASIC wants AMP to cough up documents related to its investigation into fees for no service and related false or misleading statements. Clayton Utz says the documents are the subject to a claim of legal professional privilege by AMP, but ASIC today said:
“Where ASIC considers that a document has been withheld from production on the basis of an invalid legal professional privilege claim, or where LPP has been waived, it is open to ASIC to take court action to resolve the matter.”
ANZ has reportedly written to its mortgage broker network, apologising for poor communication and promising to lift its game as it asks them to provide more detail and clarification on loan applications. ANZ’s brokers write more than half of the bank’s mortgages, but the bank has been criticised for relying on the household expenditure measure when assessing applications. Simone Tilley, head of national broker distribution, reportedly wrote:
"We do not underestimate the impact our consistency and transparency plays in managing your customer's expectations."
Today’s burn prize: New Zealand’s Reserve Bank
🔥🔥🔥
“If the executives at the top are not being seriously penalised, it just makes the people downstairs laugh — they think the executives are pulling the wool over the directors’ eyes.”
ANZ is expected to face a first strike against its renumeration report on Wednesday, but at least one investor is more worried about what a lack of action on pay means for staff morale than external stakeholders.
The Commentariat
The industry is awash with speculation NAB chief Andrew Thorburn may not return from extended leave he recently said he was planning to take in February, writes The Australian’s Richard Gluyas. Thorburn will take leave from the end of this week to early March, with a brief return to respond to Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations in February.
“NAB has had a bad royal commission — worse than anyone expected.
“But if Thorburn is true to his word, he’ll be back by early March, refreshed and reinvigorated, and determined to see through NAB’s aggressive transformation.”
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