The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) is concerned about systemic and cultural problems in the major banks which have led to poor financial advice outcomes for customers.
The Financial Services Royal Commission was told today that in relation to charging fees without delivering a service, banks had better systems in place to track incoming revenue than to make sure customers had been given the ongoing advice they were being charged for.
Peter Kell from ASIC told the Royal Commission the banks had prioritised charging high fees and concentrating on short-term profits rather than engaging in ethical behaviour.
Concentrating on revenue rather than acting in the best interest of customers has been the cause of much of the misconduct within banking over recent years.
The following comments can be attributed to Julia Angrisano, National Secretary, Finance Sector Union of Australia:
“We expect this round of case studies to identify similar cultural and systemic problems as was identified in Round 1.”
“The only real difference is the cultural and systemic problems in financial advice can have more severe consequences for customers than perhaps was seen in some of the case studies in round 1.”
“Remuneration structures, increasing pressures to expand revenue outcomes for the business from customers and reduction of support functions and staff to ensure good compliance are universal issues when examining poor outcomes for customers, financial advice is not exempt.”
Media contact John Hill 0412197079