ACCC looks at CBA/BT turf war
The perceived financial planning distribution turf war between the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac has found its way into the Parliament with a Greens Senator querying comments made by Count Financial's Barry Lambert.
NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has raised with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported comments by Lambert accusing BT Financial Group of "unsporting behaviour" and breaking an "unwritten code" of not competing.
She asked the ACCC whether it had "ascertained whether the report is correct", and if so, what action the regulator would take.
Rhiannon asked the ACCC whether it believed such unwritten codes existed in other aspects of the finance industry or in other industries and what it could do about them.
The regulator said it was aware of Lambert's statements, but that it did not comment on whether or not any particular matter is under investigation.
"The ACCC is not currently aware of any other unwritten non-compete codes," it said.
The competition regulatory said that when the ACCC became aware of alleged anti-competitive conduct it had a number of tools at its disposal to ensure compliance with the Competition and Consumer Act 2012.
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