Question: You know when you’re in a Banana Republic when…
a) Governments win elections based upon Budget outlooks based upon fantasy commodity prices;
b) Large mining firms write their own tax codes in the people’s Cabinet Room;
c) Locally produced gas is sold at 4x times the price domestically than it is to foreign customers;
d) Banks conduct an “independent” inquiry into their own remuneration practices.
It’s a trick question of course because the answer is all four. But let’s focus on d), at the AFR:
Former Australian Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick will lead a review into bankers’ pay and commissions.
The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) announced on Tuesday it had appointed Mr Sedgwick and a panel of experts to conduct an independent, industry-funded, review of retail banking remuneration.
They will investigate how commissions and payments made to bank staff and third parties, such as mortgage brokers, could be leading to conflicts of interest that mean customers receive advice that is against their best interests.
It comes as the banking industry breaths a collective sigh of relief having narrowly escaped a royal commission into its practices.
Tremendous. Nice work, too, from the AFR reproducing holus bolus the press release and Orwellian shocker “independent, industry-funded, review of retail banking remuneration”.
