Banks have agreed to identify and share information about financial advisers with a history of poor conduct, as part of a new initiative by Australia’s leading banks.
The Better Banking program has been launched as a response to address banking culture concerns that surfaced in 2016.
As part of the initiative the Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) has published its “Reference checking and information sharing protocol’ to help stop advisers who have exhibited poor conduct from moving around the industry. The ABA said it would be operational by the end of February.
The association also said the initiative would also including funding to establish the new professional standards body to help fast-track the adoption of the new initiative, and would advocate for the introduction of a new compensation scheme for consumers who had received poor advice from an adviser so they would not be left out of pocket if that adviser went out of business.
ABA deputy chairman and Bendigo and Adelaide chief executive, Mike Hirst, said: “All of these initiatives are designed to make it easier for customer to do business with banks and to ensure that, when things go wrong, banks will do the right thing and work with the customer to fix the problem”.
Also commenting, ABA chief executive, Steven Münchenberg said the initiative was a long-term commitment by the industry that started with listening to customer concerns and taking action.
“It includes the initiatives announced in April 2016 which banks are currently implementing, as well as products and services already offered by banks which we want to raise awareness of,” Münchenberg said.
“For example, banks have a range of low cost and fee-free products and services to suit low income earners and retirees. Banks offer financial hardship support programs to help their customers through tough times.”
