Late on Friday afternoon, the Interim Report of the Financial Services Royal Commission was hand-delivered to the Governor-General, His Excellency General the Hon Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd).
Covering the policy-related issues arising from the first four rounds of hearings, the report focuses on the pervasive attitude of greed that facilitated recurrent misconduct within the banking, superannuation and financial services industries. It criticises the corporate regulator, ASIC, and the prudential regulator, APRA, for not displaying sufficient regulatory rigor in assessing cases of misconduct.
“When misconduct was revealed, it either went unpunished or the consequences did not meet the seriousness of what had been done”.
The report also asks questions of the legislation surrounding the sectors: should the law be administered or enforced differently, or should it be simplified?
There will be a further round of public hearings to consider these questions, and the Commission is also accepting submissions in response to the Interim Report.
The Treasurer, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, tweeted that “The Royal Commission’s interim report, released today, is a frank & scathing assessment of the culture, conduct & compliance in the financial sector.”
Labor has called for the inquiry to be extended to hear the testimony of more victims. In a press release responding to the Interim Report, the Opposition announced that a Shorten Labor Government would establish a Financial Royal Commission Implementation Taskforce, to “reform the culture of profit over people in the financial services sector” and oversee the implementation of recommended reforms.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Banking Association the Hon Anna Bligh acknowledged the damaging revelations stating “Make no mistake, today is a day of shame for Australia’s banks,”.
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