Calls for regulatory competition benchmarks
Australia's two corporate regulators should be held accountable for fostering competition in the financial services space by way of tight legislative mandates.
That is the view of the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA), who used its submission to the Financial System Inquiry (FSI) to argue for mandated benchmarks for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) to encourage healthy competition in the banking sector.
As such, the association said APRA should be accountable to a non-executive board to oversee decision making, with a senior executive appointed to monitor competition within the sector.
"Without embedding this important principle, any other reforms flowing from the Inquiry will be addressing symptoms rather than the underlying cause," it said.
"The legislative and regulatory framework underpinning the sector does not support competition and is not competitively neutral."
Its' grievances included the bank guarantee to large institutions, which COBA said is anti-competitive, and "a disclosure regime that is failing consumers".
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