BFCSA Blog

APRA rejects claim it needs to do 'a better job', blames ASIC Australian Financial Review Mar 28 2018 12:56 PM James Frost   Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority chairman Wayne Byres has denied his organisation was unable to keep the banks in line and said there is little evidence of a lending free-for-all. After more than an hour of questioning of about revelations of lax lending standards from the Hayne royal commission, he told the House Economics Committee  that while there was a small cohort of borrowers who would have difficulty servicing loans when rates move higher there was no sign of a broader problem. "We are still dealing with an environment in which arrears are not particularly high, they are higher than they have been for a while, but if lending was a free-for-all in the way that some are suggesting I think arrears rates and other things, indicators of financial...

BFCSA Members sent in 400 letters and evidence of fraud to CORRUPT ASIC re 2012 Mortgage Fraud.  ASIC told Parliament in evidence: NO SYSTEMIC issues in banking and mortgages.................................................. BFCSA Members AGREE that ASIC cannot be trusted to handle consumer complaints.  Collectively we have amassed mountains of evidence of the corruption if ASIC, sustained over 8 - 10 years.  ASIC protected the Bankers and demonised Consumers and Borrowers.  I personally had over 30 meetings with ASIC executives for over 19 years.  The Commissioners have been fully briefed.  ASIC should have been asking BFCSA/RECA discover the Australian Bankers Control Fraud and Mortgage Fraud.   BREAKING NEWS.....TODAY! ASIC have told the Senate committee on Wednesday that it's finally decided to 'look into' mortgage fraud and see for themsleves "how wide spread it really is!!!"  This is despite ASIC's blatant lies to the Senate, time and again: "we can see no evidence of systemic issues!" CORRUPT ASIC have sat on a mass...

FBAA defends commission model to Senate inquiry   1 May 2017   Annie Kane   https://www.theadviser.com.au/breaking-news/36012-flat-fee-model-could-lead-to-poor-consumer-outcomes-fbaa   The industry association has defended the current broker commission model to the Senate economics references committee and warned that switching to a flat fee model could lead to “extremely poor consumer outcomes”.   At a public hearing in Sydney last week, the executive director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA), Peter White, was questioned on the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) report into remuneration and whether there were any poor consumer outcomes happening in the broker sector.   Touching on the ASIC recommendation that lenders “change their standard commission arrangements so that brokers are not incentivised purely on the size of the loan”, the senate questioned whether fees for service, rather than commissions, would be a suitable alternative.  However, Mr White told the senators that this would not be in the best interest of the...

Record numbers under mortgage stress   1 May 2017 Duncan Hughes http://www.afr.com/personal-finance/record-numbers-under-mortgage-stress-20170501-gvw2vt Record numbers of Australian households face mortgage stress as large loans and rising interest rates start to bite, according to detailed analysis of lending, repayments and household incomes. Affluent suburban postcodes feature among an estimated 1000 households a week expected to face mortgage default over the next 12 months, the analysis reveals. "Debt stress momentum is unprecedented," according to Martin North, principal of research firm Digital Finance Analytics, who has been doing the survey for more than 15 years.  "This is not just about mortgage battlers. It is also hitting the households with bigger incomes and more leverage. It is worrisome," Mr North said. Numbers of borrowers in severe distress has increased by about one-third to about 32,000 in the past 12 months, he said.  Concern that 767,000 households – or one-in-four across the nation – are facing financial distress...

ASIC admits product manufacturers try to shift blame   1 May 2017   Mike Taylor   http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/news/financial-planning/asic-admits-product-manufacturers-try-shift-blame   The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has acknowledged that product manufacturers have too often blamed distributors such as financial planners when product failures have occurred.   ASIC deputy chairman, Peter Kell has told the Senate Economics Committee inquiry into consumer protection in the banking, insurance and financial sector that such instances have occurred over many years.   Explaining why ASIC was pursuing a product intervention power, Kell said there had been an unwillingness on the part of product manufacturers to take responsibility.   Related News:   ·         Investment leaders need to transform their business   ·         Average 3.8 days for approval to go off APL   “… one of the problems we have typically encountered over many years in this sector is that if something goes wrong you often have the product...

You wouldn’t want to have your money tied up in Australian bank's   shonky hydrid bonds!    No wonder it’s back to re-financing and securitisation!    What Would it Cost a Country to Leave the Euro? That’s What Everyone Suddenly Wants to Know by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2017    http://wolfstreet.com/2017/02/07/what-would-it-cost-a-country-to-leave-the-euro-thats-what-everyone-suddenly-wants-to-know/   It’s the closest the Eurozone has come to falling apart. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, will get enough votes in April during the first round of the French presidential election but will be defeated in the second-round runoff in May, according to the polls. So at least hopes the French political class, and by extension the European establishment. They’re hoping Le Pen would be defeated because she is campaigning on taking France out of the euro (after holding a referendum) and re-denominating the entire €2.4 trillion pile of French government debt into new franc....

Sound familiar In Australia?  Doesn’t take much to know why our banks now all have internal customer advocates to control what suits them to investigate internally and what suits them to be investigated by the FOS!   Hope for bank fraud victims: 'We were robbed of £47,000 – but the ombudsman took our side' 3 September 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/hope-for-bank-fraud-victims-we-were-robbed-of-47000--but-the-omb/   In what could be a breakthrough ruling for victims of banking fraud, the financial ombudsman is to order a high street bank to repay an elderly couple who lost tens of thousands of pounds in a conveyancing scam. The ombudsman, which settles disputes between customers and financial services firms, will tell Lloyds Bank to repay £47,508 plus interest to Donald Kelly, a retired professor, and his wife, Patricia. Its decision was based on what Lloyds knew about the fraudsters. Banks are supposed to check the credentials of all customers when they open an...

Bad business decisions are not a criminal offence but selling stolen goods off the back of a truck is...i.e. the real crime is securitisation...   This is a complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis   By Neil Irwin Wonkblog September 12, 2013   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/09/12/this-is-a-complete-list-of-wall-street-ceos-prosecuted-for-their-role-in-the-financial-crisis/   Five years after Lehman fell, taking the global economy along with it, a roll call of Wall Street CEOs serving time for their role in the crisis looks something like this: Thanks, Dangerz0ne.   So, yeah. Zero Wall Street CEOs are in jail. But we did promise you a list:   1. No one. 2. LOL. 3. Wall Street's lawyers are amazing. 4. Etc. Etc. It's not that federal government tried to prosecute a bunch of them but lost the cases. There were no serious efforts at criminal prosecutions at all. Which isn't to say nobody is in jail....

Does the S&P Settlement change EVERYTHING? 16 February 2015 https://peopleriskmanagement.com/2015/02/16/does-the-sp-settlement-change-everything/ The S& P saga rumbles on. Having been hammered by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January [1], S&P has received a knock-out blow, and a $1.375 billion fine, from the US Department of Justice and 20 State governments [2]. And in what might the first of many private actions, S&P also reached a separate $125 million settlement with the huge pension fund California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS) [3]. What has received little publicity, however, are the implications of the S&P settlement with regard to Corporate Governance, in general, and Codes of Conduct in particular. In justifying the huge fine, the Justice Department said that “as part of the resolution, S&P admitted facts demonstrating that it misrepresented itself to investors and the public, allowing the pursuit of profits to bias its ratings”. In the many fines against banks,...

Wells Fargo CEO resigns, bank president succeeds   Published time: 12 Oct, 2016 21:59 Edited time: 12 Oct, 2016 22:06   https://www.rt.com/usa/362564-wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf-resigns/   Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo & Co. John Stumpf has retired under pressure amid a scandal involving fraudulent sales tactics. Some two million accounts were created without customers’ permission. President and COO Timothy J. Sloan will replace him.   Stumpf stepped down from both of his leadership posts Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person close to the situation.   Wells Fargo, which until recently had been the most valuable big bank in the US for years, settled a lawsuit with regulators and a city official last month for $185 million.   To meet sales quotas, the bank created accounts for unwitting customers, some of whom paid fines and fees on them. It is estimated that millions of customers were impacted. More than 5,000 Wells...

Banks set to declare $13.2bn in profits for six months The Australian 12:00am April 20, 2018 Michael Roddan   Despite the doom and gloom of the royal commission, Australia’s biggest banks are poised to sign off on a collective $13.2 billion profit for the past six months. ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank will all open their interim accounts early next month, while Macquarie Group will report its full-year profit. Commonwealth Bank, which operates on a different financial calendar, in February posted a half-year cash net profit of $4.74bn. The remaining banks’ financial accounts are expected to show slightly higher regulatory and compliance costs due to the royal commission, but otherwise, revenue growth is expected to be maintained. ANZ, which reports on May 1, is expected to unveil a cash profit of $3.4bn for the most recent six months. The same week, NAB is likely to book a $3.3bn interim profit, while...

Westpac's bad advisers still received bonuses, banking royal commission hears Australian Financial Review Apr 19 2018 7:00 PM James Frost   A Westpac planner who persistently scored the lowest possible score during internal audits was still able to collect his bonuses under the bank's "consequence management system". Andrew Smith, operating under the St George brand, was not subject to consequences during his time at the bank, despite receiving multiple warnings about his conduct, the Hayne royal commission has heard. Counsel assisting Rowena Orr QC took BT's national head of financial advice Michael Wright to task over internal auditing of financial planners that was limited to reviewing a handful of files every year. "I want to put to you squarely that the systems failed because your system was to review four files each year for an adviser, and the advice could receive sub-par results on the majority of those files and still...

Banking royal commission: planners at Commonwealth Bank subsidiary charged dead clients The Australian 10:24am April 19, 2018 Ben Butler   Financial planners at a Commonwealth Bank subsidiary charged fees for ongoing services to clients who had been dead for years, the banking royal commission has heard. One planner’s client had been dead for seven years before the planner contacted his widow, and then took “no action” to fix the continuing charges, a document tendered to the commission this morning shows. Management of Count Financial, the CBA subsidiary responsible for the planner, proposed that the planner be disciplined with a warning, the document, from its internal risk and compliance forum in late 2015, shows. The planner was given a “low” rating and “had not conducted reviews for ongoing service clients”, Count management were told in the document. “Recommend warning letter as a priority due to 4 instances and systemic issues identified,” management...

Criminal penalties, fines boosted amid banking commission outrage Australian Financial Review Apr 19 2018 11:07 PM Phillip Coorey, Andrew Tillett   Penalties for corporate misconduct will be boosted to include fines of more than $200 million,  and the financial regulators granted stronger powers to hire and fire executives, as the Turnbull government responds to shocking revelations of banking behaviour before the Hayne commission. Under growing external and internal criticism for opposing a royal commission for almost two years, the government also relented further on Thursday and said if Commissioner Kenneth Hayne needed more time beyond his 12-month deadline in February next year, he would receive it. Treasurer Scott Morrison and Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer will announce on Friday new criminal penalties of up to 10 years' jail and maximum fines of $945,000 for individuals breaching the Corporations Act, and fines for corporations of $9.45 million or 10 per cent of...

Former Macquarie exec guilty of money laundering, tax evasion   Sydney Morning Herald 19 April 2018 12:01am Kate McClymont     Former finance professor and Macquarie Bank executive Dr Tony Castagna is behind bars after a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of tax evasion, money laundering and dealing with the proceeds of crime. Castagna, 70, is facing a maximum jail term of 25 years after the jury found that over a nine-year period up until 2008 he deliberately and dishonestly concealed from the Australian Tax Office millions of dollars in fees and bonuses he received while working as a consultant to Macquarie Bank. Also found guilty was Castagna’s cousin Robert Agius, a former accountant in the tax haven of Vanuatu, who conspired with Castagna to conceal the money. Agius, who grew up in the same household as Castagna, is already serving a non-parole period of six years and eight months'...

YES FOLKS  Its illegal to expose the things that public servants and their puppet masters have been illegally engaging in.  If you are a public servant whistleblower and you try and expose your Mindless Masters for corruption and illegal activity, you will be the one hanged...................Should we bring back the STOCKS in Martin Place?  No not the ASX stocks..........................old fashioned naming and shaming in public square!...

If the Australian public's demands for a Royal Commission into the Australian banking sector are going to be ignored, the power to demand the truth will be felt at the coming election.   As the old saying goes, give them enough rope.... ...

Is this really what we want to see across Australia? Royal Commission into the Australian Banking sector, with broad terms of reference!  

We now have a resident cartoonist and will be sharing cartoons with you on a regular basis.  We all need a good LAF from time to time. "3 Wise Monkey" ...

Dear members For once the shoe is on the other foot, in the online magazine 'The Advisor" ( just google it) brokers and advisors are whinging and bleating poor me after being caught out by a former financial industry person turned scammer. When I first started reading the article I assumed it must of  been large sums of money but no it sums of a thousand dollars or less. These poor souls are calling on everyone from ASIC to the police to act to bring this known fraudster to account, they are victims of fraud and want the courts to act. Well, well welcome to our world and we aren't talking little piddling amounts of less than a thousand dollars, we're talking in excess of a million dollars in some cases. The irony of this story is a lot of these people are the very people we trusted and yet they...