Our response to the Royal Commission
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (the Royal Commission) has had a profound impact on our organisation.
We are determined to learn from our failures and build a bank that is worthy of the trust and respect of our customers and the community.
The Commission’s report led us to further examine how we serve our customers. We identified eight lessons from our misconduct and failures to meet community standards and expectations. These lessons have informed our response to the ‘spirit and letter’ of the Royal Commission. We are now identifying measures that will allow us to be confident that these lessons have been acted on.
Our first step was to identify which Commission recommendations we could quickly act on. This led to 16 initiatives to improve the treatment of our retail customers, small businesses and farmers in Australia. Some of the key commitments we have delivered on are:
- removing overdrawn and dishonour fees on our Pensioner Advantage account (available to eligible recipients of Centrelink or Veterans’ Affairs pensions)
- improving our service to Indigenous customers in remote communities by setting up a dedicated phone service and giving them easier options to prove their identity
- publishing principles to help family farming customers in financial distress
- publishing principles on acting as a model litigant in disputes with our customers
- implementing pay reforms that replace individual-based bonuses for most of our employees with an incentive based on the overall performance of the Group.
In addition to progressing these 16 initiatives, Colin Neave, former Commonwealth Ombudsman and our first Customer Fairness Adviser (appointed in 2016), reviewed individual ANZ cases highlighted at the Royal Commission, taking action where appropriate to resolve matters.
The majority of the recommendations in the Royal Commission final report require legislative change and we will continue to work with government as it implements those changes.
APRA Self-Assessment
In late 2018, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) asked a range of financial services companies, including ANZ, to examine through a Self-Assessment Report their behaviours and operations in the wake of highly publicised misconduct in the sector.
We submitted our Self-Assessment Report to APRA in November 2018, and have since developed a ‘roadmap’ to act on the themes raised in that report.
We identified five focus areas in which to concentrate our efforts to deliver better outcomes. These areas were identified both through the self-assessment as well as issues that were examined by the Royal Commission.
Executive Committee members have been assigned ‘ownership’ of each focus area and they are responsible for monitoring performance.
We have established a Royal Commission and Self-Assessment Oversight Group to oversee an integrated response to the Royal Commission and Self-Assessment.
Further details of our self-assessment can be found on bluenotes at anz.com.