Royal Commission hearings to kick-off in February
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry will kick off its public hearings in Melbourne in just over three weeks’ time after having sent written questions to the major players just days before the Christmas break.
In what represents one of the fastest initiations of activity by a Royal Commission, it announced late on Monday that it would be holding an initial public hearing in Melbourne at 10am on Monday 12 February at which the Commissioner and Senior Counsel assisting would be making short statements with no witnesses being called.
More importantly, however, the Commission announced it was inviting submissions “from any individual or entity wishing to tell the Commission about misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation or Financial Services Industry.”
However, in doing so, it moved to screen out extraneous issues by pointing out that the Commission “cannot resolve individual disputes, fix or award compensation, or make orders requiring a party to a dispute to take or not take any action.”
The Commission said that it might also be contacting some individuals and entities to make submissions.
Money Management has confirmed that banks, insurance companies and superannuation funds received letters containing key questions from the Commission on virtually the last day of business before the Christmas-New Year shut-down while others received letters during the first business days of January.
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