Day 523: 'All the excesses'
Counting the days since the banking royal commission was established.
Good afternoon, and welcome to day 523.
Today in summary: Maurice Blackburn has beaten off other law firms to run a shareholder class action against AMP; ANZ allegedly tried to thwart an ASIC rate rigging investigation; reports on the performance of the RBA’s NPP and RITS payments systems are due in the coming weeks; and female virtual assistants on banking platforms could be perpetuating sexist stereotypes.
-- Alex
@AlexESampson
Current banker panic level: 🤑🤫😐🤦♀️
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Law firm Maurice Blackburn has won the right to run a shareholder class action against AMP. Three other law firms — Phi Finney McDonald, Shine Lawyers and Quinn Emanuel — were told they could not bring cases against the embattled wealth manager for charging fees for no service.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Julie Ward said Maurice Blackburn, which formed an alliance with Slater & Gordon, provided the best deal for those pursuing the bank because of its “no-win, no fee” offering, which presented the best deal for group members. Ward said Maurice Blackburn will have to put up A$5 million as security for AMP's costs.
An ABC investigation suggests ANZ was seeking to thwart corporate regulator ASIC's long-running investigation into alleged interest rate rigging. Previously unseen internal documents allegedly reveal the bank’s plans to dodge the corporate investigation. Testimony from ANZ whistleblowers revealed a “toxic culture of ego and ruthlessness”.
A meeting of the central bank’s Payments System Board today heard the RBA and the ACCC have recently completed their consultation into the functionality and access of the New Payments Platform — Australia’s open access infrastructure for fast payments, which was launched in February 2018. The report from the consultation will be published in the coming weeks.
The RBA’s international comparison report of Australia's real-time gross settlement system used by banks — the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS) — will also be published shortly.
The dominance of female virtual assistants on banking platforms has spurred concerns the trend is perpetuating sexist stereotypes. An exception is CBA’s payments tablet “Albert”. UK market research firm Neuro-Insight studies show that while people prefer a female voice they recall more information when it’s delivered by a male voice.
🔥🔥🔥
Today’s burn prize: Former ANZ senior trader Etienne Alexiou
“It felt a little bit like the Wild West, it felt a little bit like a caricature of investment banking with all the excesses, but none of the substance.”
ANZ has been accused of manipulating and profiting from rate rigging the Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW), a benchmark used to set the interest on trillions of dollars in short-term loans between the banks, as well as many other corporate transactions.
The Commentariat
Australia’s economy can breathe again now the election has passed, writes The Wall Street Journal’s James Glynn.
“The Reserve Bank of Australia is attempting a bit of resuscitation, and will likely cut interest rates in June, and July. It could well cut a further two times if the patient doesn’t begin breathing on its own. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has also announced moves to spur flagging credit growth by asking banks to lower hurdles that customers face to getting a mortgage.”
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