The Federal Government is playing down the prospect of a royal commission to investigate Commonwealth Bank financial advisers who lost clients’ money.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said he’d received the parliamentary committee report into the issue and was carefully considering its 61 recommendations.
“When I work through it, we’ll make a full response,” he told ABC radio on Friday.
The recommendation for a royal commission was not unanimous with Liberal senator David Bushby dissenting, Senator Cormann said.
“He did make a very persuasive argument that yet another inquiry might not be the best way forward,” he said.
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Nationals senator John Williams wants a royal commission into the finance industry, saying investigations should not be limited to the Commonwealth Bank.
“There’s certainly a lot of concerns about wrongdoings; forgery, fraud. And I believe if that has been carried out, and I certainly do believe that, then these people must be made accountable for their actions,” Williams told ABC radio on Friday.
“I think white collar crime is systemic in Australia. As I’ve said, many years ago we heard of robbers with pistols and guns and rifles, well now it seems to be a biro and a computer is the way people lose their money and are robbed of their savings.”
The Senate Economics References Committee report released on Thursday concludes a year-long investigation into the actions of the corporate regulator.
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The committee investigated Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) slow response to bank whistleblowers who alerted the regulator to suspect conduct by financial advisers that included forging client signatures to facilitate profit-producing product switches.
ASIC has conceded that its trust in the bank was misplaced.
Cormann said the events took place in the past and the industry had worked hard to lift professional and ethical standards since then.
But there was more to be done and the government was keen to work with the industry on improvements.
He looked forward to an explanation in meetings with CBA executives about the report’s “concerning observations”.
“The bank needs to provide a proper response to the allegations that’s been raised,” Senator Cormann said.
ASIC has the powers and resources it requires to do its job, he said, but the government will make an announcement about its future after it gets a financial system inquiry report.
Cormann said he was confident in the government’s planned changes to Future of Financial Advice laws.
Conflicted remuneration would continue to be banned.
“The changes … in no way interfere with what’s required to ensure these sorts of events don’t happen again,” he said.
