You want good governance then sack Evil Anna

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She’s making out like a bandit with a fat public pension plus the lobbying silver pieces worth $500k according to The Australian, so why not go for gold on bank salaries too, at the AFR:

Banks want more stringent checks and balances placed on the prudential regulator to ensure it doesn’t abuse new powers granted by the government’s new regime to improve executive accountability.

The Australian Bankers’ Association says it is “deeply concerned” that the draft law establishing the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) fails to provide guidance to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on how to use new powers to disqualify senior bankers. The arbitrary nature of the powers are contrary to well-established legal principles of due process for those accused of wrongdoing by authorities, the ABA argues.

The banks are worried that the new legal standards themselves are nebulous and subjective, and are concerned that the regime fails to provide defences and other safeguards like those in the Corporations Act which prevent the Australian Securities and Investments Commission over-reaching when it uses similar powers.

In a submission to Treasury providing further evidence of the breakdown in relationship between banks and Canberra as the government tries to look tough on banks to fend off political pressure, the ABA said it is “concerned that there may be a fundamental reversal of the onus of proof regarding a breach of the BEAR expectations, contrary to Australian judicial principles”.

“Any decision to remove or disqualify a person made by APRA is a most serious decision and has the potential to destroy an individual’s career,” the ABA argued in a submission on behalf of its 24 members, including the big four banks. “There must be clear guidance regarding the circumstances in which such a decision may be made.”

Widespread concerns held by senior lawyers, academics and former regulators about the expanding remit of APRA and the need for additional power to be accompanied by oversight and accountability were highlighted in a special report in The Australian Financial Review on September 15.

Granted, there is zero policy process here. It is clear that the Coalition putting in these new rules is moving the cart before the horse. What should come first is the royal commission, the AUSTRAC prosecution and Labor’s idea of an inquiry into the respective roles and responsibilities of APRA and RBA.

But the banks, Evil Anna and the ABA fought and successfully destroyed that process so they can hardly complain about the cart jackknifing over the policy nag and landing on their heads now.

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If you want rule of law then stop undermining it.

A good start would be to sack Evil Anna and disband the ABA.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.