Day 418: 'More clarity on divestment'
Counting the days since the banking royal commission was established.
Good afternoon, and welcome to day 418.
Today in summary: Buried by yesterday’s breathless headlines about the rolling heads at NAB was the news the bank will be delaying its planned exit of its MLC wealth management business; Christopher Pyne predicts more bank chiefs will depart in the wake of Hayne’s report, but Opposition leader Bill Shorten says Australians won’t be satisfied until bankers go to jail; and ASIC takes Hayne’s advice and prepares to appeal its case with Westpac over the bank’s superannuation sales tactics.
-- Charis
@charispalmer
Current banker panic level: 🤬😱🤕
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Along with the news its chairman and CEO would be departing the bank, NAB yesterday provided a first quarter trading update. The bank advised its planned exit of MLC will likely be delayed to FY20 due to the “challenging” regulatory and operating environment for wealth businesses. It added that Hayne’s recommendations had “brought more clarity to the proposed divestment”. NAB shares closed down 0.96%, despite analysts welcoming the resignations of Andrew Thorburn and Ken Henry.
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Opposition leader Bill Shorten wasted no time this morning in political point scoring off the back of the bank boss departures. Pyne told Nine most Australians would welcome the departures, adding:
“I have no particular inside knowledge of what might happen at other banks but I doubt that will be the last of the departures from some of the big banks.”
Meanwhile, Shorten said the resignations would be of little comfort to bank victims.
"If no-one out of the banks goes to jail, if no one gets prosecuted or charged, I think Australians will say there's been a cover-up."
Hayne’s “if in doubt, litigate” mantra seems to be taking hold at ASIC. The regulator has reportedly signalled it will appeal against a December judgment in its case against Westpac’s superannuation sales tactics. The bank escaped financial penalties due to a legislative anomaly.
Today’s burn prize: Australian columnist John Durie
🔥🔥🔥
“Good governance 101 says the board should settle on a new chair then a new chief executive.”
And Durie is not the only one calling Ken Henry a “lame duck chair”.
The Commentariat
The whole of corporate Australia should take note of the issues of governance and culture highlighted by the Hayne royal commission, writes Graeme Samuel in the AFR.
“Corporate Australia has a remarkably brief memory cycle when it comes to heeding the lessons of these events – complacency sets in very quickly. How do we perpetuate their impact?”
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