Commbank promises detailed response
The Commonwealth Bank has undertaken to provide a detailed response by the end of this week to a damning Senate Committee report into the handling of events that led to entering into an enforceable undertaking with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The banking group's chief executive, Ian Narev broke his silence on the issue over the weekend with the release of a brief statement.
In that statement, he said the bank was reviewing the Senate Committee report and would be providing a detailed statement.
"The Senate Committee has provided a wide-ranging report, which raised a number of serious issues. We are reviewing the report thoroughly, with open minds and a total focus on customers. We expect to provide a detailed response by the end of this week," Narev's formal statement said.
However, the bank has already signalled that it strongly disagrees with many of the criticisms contained in the Senate Committee report, particularly suggestions that it withheld information from the regulator around the provision of compensation to affected clients.
Just days before the Senate Committee tabled its final report, the Commonwealth Bank sanctioned the release of a supplementary submission in which it detailed the manner in which ASIC had been kept apprised of the compensation processes.
In the meantime, while both the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) have welcomed elements of the Senate Committee recommendations, Industry Super Australia and the Federal Opposition have sought to use the report to bolster their arguments that the Senate should reject the Government's Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) changes.
The Minister for Finance and Acting Assistant Treasurer, Senator Mathias Cormann has signalled the Government will be proceeding with the regulatory measures to implement the FOFA changes following on from the report of another Senate Committee which specifically reviewed the FOFA legislation.
Commenting on the issue late last week, Cormann pointed out that the Senate Committee had been investigating events which had taken place in the past and that much had changed in the intervening period.
However he acknowledged that he had held talks with the senior leadership of the Commonwealth Bank on the issue and it was likely he would be holding further talks.
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