The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) has welcomed the Final Report on the review of the Code of Banking Practice (Code) and supported the vast majority of recommendations.
According to the ABA, the code was central to “make sure banks do the right thing by their customers” and aimed to raise standards across the banking industry.
Some of the changes would include:
- Plain-English language so that Australians can better understand their banking rights and responsibilities;
- An easier way to cancel credit cards or reduce the credit limit, and a commitment by banks when offering cards to assess someone’s ability to pay the full credit limit in a reasonable time period;
- A new dedicated section for small businesses, and a commitment by banks to simplify terms and conditions and give more notice when loan contracts change; and
- Increased help for people experiencing, or at risk of, financial difficulty, so they can take control of their finances.
Of the 99 recommendations, ABA supported 61 recommendations in full, with further 19 being supported in principle and 10 in part while four recommendations required additional time to consider and five were not supported.
According to the ABA, there were nine recommendations which either required additional time to work through in consultation with stakeholders or are not able to be supported due to the potential for them to negatively impact on customer choice and competition in banking.
ABA’s executive director, retail policy, Diane Tate, said: “In most cases where the industry does not support a recommendation, we have put forward an alternative that addresses the underlying intent of the recommendation”.
“There are also a number of related Federal Government reviews underway which we need to take into account before we can finalise our work on some of the recommendations.
“By accepting the vast majority of recommendations, banks are demonstrating they are taking action to change as well as being honest about the things which are more complex to resolve.”
The Final Report on the Code was conducted by independent consultant and managing director of Cameron Ralph Navigator, Philip G. Khoury.
