Friday 19th of April 2024
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indigestion...

bankers

It's now clear why the finance sector fought so hard against a banking royal commission.

Evidence of lies, deceit and fraud just keep on coming at the commission, much of it has occurred under the noses of directors holding some of the country's most prestigious positions.

The banks' campaign against a royal commission included the predictable threat that customers would eventually foot the bill. 

But what is the cost of a financial sector that has often defrauded its customers and overpaid its executives regardless of the methods used to generate profits?

Hang the expense of a royal commission and its consequences, Australians will be better off in the long run if its findings are acted on and not politicised.

Last November, Australia's banking leaders caved to the political pressure.


NAB chairman and former treasury secretary Ken Henry said: "There is something real here for which we have to take responsibility. There are instances of poor conduct, poor treatment of customers and these are matters for which we have to hold ourselves accountable."


Despite evidence of cover ups and stealing from customers, AMP's board has done the bare minimum, bringing forward the departure of chief executive Craig Meller, and investors are in the dark as to whether he was paid handsomely on his exit.


Investor groups want wholesale changes to the AMP board including its chairman Catherine Brenner.


 

"We think the board needs to take some accountability," said Louise Davidson, CEO of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors representing Industry Super Funds managing more than $2 trillion in assets.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-24/banking-royal-commission-damaging-...

 

Hey whoever wrote this stuff.... It's only POLITICAL PRESSURE  that let us get a bit of transparency into this greedy muck. What we won't see of course are the world markets shenanigans, the manipulations of derivative and other big gambling activities...

holy cows!...

A mass board resignation at the Chinese firm that bought Australia’s largest dairy farm has fuelled concerns it may not fulfil the promises of local investment and environmental protection that convinced the Turnbull government to sign off on the sale. 

Moon Lake Investments attracted scrutiny in 2015 when it offered $280m for the Van Diemen’s Land Company, which owned Australia’s largest dairy farm in north-western Tasmania. 

The decision required the green light from the foreign investment review board and the Turnbull government agreed to the sale in February 2016, saying Moon Lake had met the “national interest” test. 

That was, in part, because Moon Lake had promised to create 95 local jobs, invest $100m into the local industry and make commitments to help protect the endangered Tasmanian devil. 

On Wednesday, the Australian non-executive directors of Moon Lake Investments and its chief executive staged a mass resignation. David Crean, Rob Poole, Simon Lyons, Keith Sutton, and Bruce Donnison all resigned on Monday, and the chief executive, Evan Rolley, said he would not extend his contract beyond 30 June.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/25/mass-resignations...

 

Ah, if banks were dairy farmers... Hang on a second.... We're the buggers being milked by the banks!

ASIC needs an impartial dentist...

The Greens have written to request the auditor general investigate the declaration of interest and conflict of interest policies of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The letter says the investigation is necessary after concerns “raised in the media in regards to the potential conflicts of interests between former Asic chairman Greg Medcraft and the, currently stood aside, senior counsel for AMP, Brian Salter.”

The banking royal commission heard last week that Salter had helped to draft an “independent” report on AMP – written by his former firm Clayton Utz – about AMP’s practice of charging customers fees without providing any service, before the report was handed to the regulator.

The commission heard the report had gone through 25 drafts, after more than 700 emails were exchanged between AMP and Clayton Utz, and that Salter had revised the wording of the report to remove the name of AMP’s chief executive, Craig Meller.

Salter was stood aside last week as AMP’s general counsel, a position he has held since 2008.

He was also stood aside as a member of Asic’s external Financial Services and Credit Panel whose members advise Asic on whether to make banning orders against financial planners. Salter – who was best man at Medcraft’s wedding – had interactions with Asic commissioners as a member of that advisory panel.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/27/asics-conflict-of...

toothless royal commission...

The Royal Commission has become aware that some people may have been receiving information that the Commission can make a decision to refund investors or provide compensation. Such claims are not correct. The Commission cannot resolve individual disputes. It cannot fix or award compensation or make orders requiring a party to a dispute to take or not to take any action.

 

Read more:

https://financialservices.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

 

Excellent... (guffaw).

can bank — even making the ruskie news...

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has confirmed that it lost the personal financial histories of millions of its clients years ago but never informed them about it. It admitted to the incident only after media broke the story.

Australia’s largest bank lost the banking statements of as many as 12 million of its customers during a period between 2004 and 2014, according to BuzzFeed, apparently the first media outlet to report the matter. Further reports in the Australian media have suggested that almost 20 million bank account records were lost in the incident.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/425692-australia-bank-personal-data-lost/