The ABA said on Tuesday the banking review will build upon the future of financial advice – FoFA – laws introduced by the then Labor government in 2012.
The Australian Bankers’ Association – ABA – is asking for written submissions from range of bodies, including those involved in small business, to contribute a banking review it says will look at whether customers have suffered as a result of the rewards offered to staff and brokers for selling financial products.
The ABA are also looking for input from banks, regulators, consumer bodies, employees and customers.
Travel money cards, small-business lending and general insurance – excepting personal sickness and accident – will also be included in the review.
The banking industry has appointed former Australian Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick, a senior economic adviser to Bob Hawke to lead the review that the ABA says could look at scrapping or changing commissions and payments for products including mortgages, bank accounts and credit card insurance.
The review is part of the industry response – first announced in April – to the threat of a banking royal commission, which receded with the coalition’s federal election victory.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in April called upon banks to prioritise customer service and public wellbeing over financial gain, urging them to repay taxpayers’ support during the 2008 global financial crisis.
But Mr Turnbull resisted the Labor opposition’s calls for a full royal commission into the banking industry.
The ABA said on Tuesday the banking review will build upon the future of financial advice – FoFA – laws introduced by the then Labor government in 2012. The laws were designed to protect consumers from dodgy advisers.
AAP
