NAB chairman suggests unilateral client remediation
National Australia Bank (NAB) chairman, Ken Henry has suggested that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) need not be consulted and that organisations such as the banks should just get on with customer remediation where wrongdoing has occurred.
Giving testimony before the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Henry acknowledged that NAB’s reputation had been “tarnished considerably” by adviser service fee issues and the manner in which they had been handled by management.
“I wish we could have said to management ‘enough is enough, forget about ASIC just do’,” Henry said.
When asked what he meant by “just do it”, the NAB chairman said he meant remediating customers.
In doing so, Henry suggested that the Royal Commission might pursue recommendations which gave banks scope to take such an approach, noting that there currently existed a danger that banks might move to remediate customers only to be told by ASIC years later that the remediation was not enough.
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