Day 487: 'Should have been abolished'
Counting the days since the banking royal commission was established.
Good afternoon, and welcome to day 487.
Today in summary: NAB up for another A$525 million to repay customers for bad advice and unwarranted fees; APRA is adding another breach to its IOOF lawsuit; and ASIC has warned superannuation trustees to responsibly communicate details of new laws.
-- Alex
@AlexESampson
Current banker panic level: 🤑😮🤫
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NAB today announced a A$325 million hit to first-half cash earnings, in part due to the bank’s allocation of A$525 million put aside to repay customers in the wake of the Hayne royal commission. This brings the bank’s customer-related remediation program to A$1.102 billion.
NAB interim chief Philip Chronican said the bank was “putting things right” where it had treated its customers “poorly”.
The Australian | SMH | AFR
APRA has reinforced its lawsuit against embattled financial services group IOOF and top execs including former managing director Chris Kelaher and former chairman George Venardos. The prudential regulator yesterday added a fresh breach to its list of allegations, bringing the number of times IOOF broke superannuation law to five.
The Australian is reporting APRA told the Federal Court IOOF never informed it about the breach and it only learned of it after filing its lawsuit against the company in early December.
ASIC has warned superannuation trustees to responsibly communicate the details of new laws designed to protect nest eggs to their customers. ASIC commissioner Danielle Press told The Australian it was not appropriate for trustees to encourage all members to maintain insurance, saying many members with inactive accounts would be better off allowing the insurance to lapse.
From July 1 the Protecting Your Super package of reforms, which passed parliament in February, will make life insurance opt-in for members whose accounts have been dormant for 16 months, impose fee caps on accounts with balances of less than A$6,000, and ban exit fees.
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Today’s burn prize: Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter
“APRA and ASIC should have been abolished. On the evidence presented there is not the slightest doubt that they were not just ineffective, they were counterproductive.”
Katter, together with Katter Australia Party candidate for Leichhardt Daniel McCarthy, slammed the potential regulations on Australian small business owner/operators following the release of the final report of the banking royal commission, labelling them “unfair” and “pro bank”.
The Commentariat
AFR columnist Karen Maley writes that industry super funds will be gunning for AMP chair David Murray at AMP's AGM in May. Maley points to rumours that three AMP directors – David Murray, John Fraser and John O'Sullivan – could fail to win the votes needed to endorse their positions. Shareholders are stormy about AMP's controversial decision to offload its life insurance business.
“Once upon a time in the not very distant past, it would have been well nigh unthinkable to even consider ousting individuals of the calibre of Murray – the former Commonwealth Bank boss who has also chaired the Future Fund and led the 2014 review of Australia's financial system. But times have changed, and the three are set to be buffeted by the full force of shareholder fury.”
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