The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) believes the alarming level of misconduct already revealed by the Financial Services Royal Commission justifies an extension of time to allow Commissioner Hayne and his staff to fully explore problems in the sector.
The community has been shocked by revelations that major Australian corporations like AMP, the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac failed to act in the best interest of consumers.
Even worse, that the regulator ASIC was at times, not fully informed about activities within financial services corporations that should by law have been reported in a timely fashion.
The FSU has been calling for a Royal Commission into banking for some years because we knew the enormous pressures bank staff were under to meet sales targets and continue to generate billion dollar profits.
Now, the FSU says, Commissioner Hayne should be given all the time he needs to examine the nature and causes of misconduct, right up to senior management, CEO and Board level.
The following quotes can be attributed to FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano:
” If anyone thinks that the issues being uncovered through these case studies are limited only to the institutions that the Commission has focused on, they are not paying attention.”
“What the Commission has revealed so far is that their case studies are uncovering only a small part of the problems with the industry.”
“What we are hearing day in and day out through this Royal Commission has not been uncovered through any of the previous inquiries into the industry.”
“The Royal Commission must be able to continue for as long as is required to ensure that the cultural and systemic issues littered throughout the industry are exposed.”
Media contact John Hill 0412197079