Day 548: 'Misconduct of the past'
Counting the days since the banking royal commission was established.
Good afternoon, and welcome to day 548.
Today in summary: Afterpay has suffered a 6% drop in its share price since it revealed on Friday Austrac would audit its compliance with anti-money laundering laws; BoQ is introducing rules to require mortgage brokers to identify abuse; former APRA chair John Laker says good banking culture is a “journey”; and ASIC has approved an expanded remit for AFCA, starting July 1.
-- Alex
@AlexESampson
Current banker panic level: 😥🧐🙏👮🏻♀️
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Afterpay has suffered turmoil on the sharemarket for three days following the release last week of news that Austrac was breathing down its neck. Shares in the the buy now, pay later provider have fallen more than 6% since it revealed after the market close on Friday that Austrac would appoint an auditor to examine the lender’s compliance with the anti-money laundering laws.
Bank of Queensland is introducing rules to require mortgage brokers to identify borrowers who are emotionally or physically violent. From July 1 brokers will be required to sign a declaration that there are no signs of abuse by the proposed borrower or related parties.
BoQ joins the big four — CBA, ANZ, Westpac and NAB — in having specific domestic abuse policies.
Former APRA chair John Laker told delegates at the Governance Institute of Australia's governance and risk management forum in Sydney today that banks must constantly work on culture, calling the process a “journey”. Laker said it was hard to put a time limit on creating better behaved bankers.
Australian Banking Daily will be reporting from the Melbourne iteration of the forum on Thursday.
AFR | The Australian | SMH
Financial complaints body AFCA today welcomed corporate regulator ASIC’s approval of its expanded remit, starting July 1. The change to AFCA’s rules allows it to investigate complaints dating back to January 1, 2008. AFCA will have a 12-month window to accept and investigate these complaints, which must not have been dealt with by AFCA, its predecessor schemes, courts, or tribunals.
AFCA is has been getting 1,450 complaints a week, up from the 950 complaints a week the three former agencies combined were getting. AFCA is anticipating another 14,000 complaints to come from the expanded jurisdiction.
🔥🔥🔥
Today’s burn prize: AFCA CEO David Locke
“It is our expectation that firms will proactively resolve these legacy matters themselves where possible, as part of their commitment to justly remediate the misconduct of the past and meet the community’s expectations of fairness.”
Locke today welcomed corporate regulator ASIC’s approval of its expanded remit, starting July 1.
The Commentariat
Perks proved expensive for ANZ’s New Zealand boss David Hisco, writes The Australian’s business correspondent Richard Gluyas.
“Before the royal commission, David Hisco’s sin of describing chauffeured trips in a company car and wine storage in Australia as business expenses would have earned him a warning and a note on his personnel file. Now it’s career-ending, even though ANZ NZ chairman John Key said publicly he accepted Hisco’s assurance that “executives in Australia” had authorised the spending.”
CEO of Roubini Macro Associates and professor of economics at New York University Nouriel Roubini writes that the deepening trade war makes a 2020 recession “more than likely”.
“It is possible that Trump and Xi will meet for talks during the G20 summit on June 28-29 in Osaka. But even if they do agree to restart negotiations, a comprehensive deal to settle their many points of contention would be a long way off. As the two sides drift further apart, the space for compromise is shrinking and the risk of a global recession and crisis in an already fragile global economy is rising.”
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