Login
ISCOVER
An ASIC officer has begun monitoring the Commonwealth Bank’s governance and compliance processes, with the regulator commencing its government-funded initiative to proactively address misconduct.
It has been reported that, as of today (29 October), an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) supervisory officer has begun monitoring the Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA) governance and compliance behaviour within its institutions.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
The commencement of the initiative follows the federal government’s decision to provide the corporate regulator with $70 million in additional funding to combat misconduct, including $8 million to embed staff into the big four banks and AMP.
In a statement to The Adviser, CBA said that it has welcomed the inclusion of what Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dubbed a “corporate cop” within its ranks.
“As we have previously indicated, we welcome this move by ASIC as a positive and constructive step forward in the regulatory oversight of the banking industry,” a CBA spokesperson said.
“We look forward to working closely with ASIC to help produce the best outcomes for all of our stakeholders.”
ANZ, NAB, Westpac and AMP are set to follow shortly, with ASIC chair James Shipton noting in his recent appearance before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services on Friday (19 October) that he’s had meetings with senior executives to “accelerate” the initiative.
Mr Shipton added that ASIC has selected its “most senior officers” to perform the supervisory role.
“It’s important to note that this is meaningful from a supervisory perspective,” Mr Shipton said.
“We have appointed very senior members of our staff to be what we call chief supervisory officers; these are our most senior ranking executive directors in our organisation and these two individuals will be leading these supervisory teams onsite.
“That is really important because, of course, we want senior people, who are liaising directly with the CEOs, CROs and CFOs.”
[Related: ASIC focusing on loan fraud within banks]
