BFCSA Blog

CBA mulled warning dead customers about fees in product disclosure statement Australian Financial Review Aug 15 2018 4:14 PM James Frost   The Commonwealth Bank's superannuation trustee, Avanteos Investments Limited, considered covering its tracks over the charging of dead people for financial advice by updating its product disclosure statement (PDS), the Hayne royal commission heard. Counsel assisting Michael Hodge, QC, was questioning Colonial First State's executive general manager Linda Elkins about a range of conflicts within the bank's superannuation trustee business, including the charging of dead customers for financial advice. Ms Elkins explained that following revelations that the bank's financial advisers had been charging dead customers for financial advice back in April, a review of the bank's superannuation arm took place which revealed it was charging dead superannuation customers as far back as 2015. Ms Elkins said that in a review conducted this year, it was found that a way to...

Suncorp used 'tax surplus' for admin rather than return money to members Sydney Morning Herald 14 August 2018 5:53am Clancy Yeates   Suncorp's superannuation trustee used tax refunds within funds to purchase administrative services from other parts of the financial conglomerate, instead of returning the money to members as many funds do, the royal commission heard. As part of its scrutiny of superannuation trustees, the Hayne royal commission on Monday afternoon turned its attention to how Suncorp used what it called a "tax surplus." This referred to member funds that were collected for taxation purposes, but the fund ended up with a surplus because of deductions. Senior counsel assisting the commission, Michael Hodge QC, questioned Maurizio Pinto, the head of the office of the trustee within Suncorp Portfolio Services Limited (SPSL), about the arrangement, and the monitoring of the services provided. Mr Hodge said "many" other super funds dealt with a...

Banking royal commission: super rip-offs, gouging revealed The Australian 12:00am August 7, 2018 Ben Butler, Elizabeth Redman, Michael Roddan   Australians are being ripped off by super fund trustees “surrounded by temptation” to do the wrong thing with the $2.6 trillion retirement savings pile, while regulators are failing to search out and punish bad behaviour, the banks royal commission has heard. In one example of fee gouging outlined at the royal commission yesterday, NAB charged a customer of its MLC division an array of fees that gobbled up $892.20 of $1101.95 earned from a year-long investment in the simplest option available, cash. As the commission investigates the inner workings of the compulsory superannuation system over the next two weeks of hearings, it will explore how retirement savers are swindled through fees for services they never receive, cosy deals between retail super funds and the banks that control them, account-draining insurance premiums,...

Watchdog failed to act on warning over super fees The Australian 12:00am July 23, 2018 Anthony Klan   EXCLUSIVE  The regulator responsible for the nation’s $2.6 trillion superannuation nest egg was warned by its analysts eight years ago that the major banks and finance companies were charging members more than 2½ times the market rates for services, delivering them billions of dollars a year in extra profits. A 2010 research paper published by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority — which can now be accessed only via a federal government archive — shows excessive fees charged by the managers of the retail, or for-profit, funds have been systemically eating into the retirement savings of millions of workers. Despite the peer-reviewed academic paper being written by APRA’s own analysts, including then APRA research head Bruce Arnold, the regulator has not only failed to take any significant steps to address the issue, it has...

How ASIC closed in on AMP’s ‘orphan’ customers The Australian 12:00am July 16, 2018 Pamela Williams   The key document that sparked AMP to commission Clayton Utz last year to investigate its “fees for no service” scandal was already in the sights of the corporate regulator before the consultancy’s ­report was ever completed and handed to the AMP board. This explosive AMP internal document, which became known at the corporate regulator as the “orphan contracts document”, five years ago canvassed the ­severe risks for AMP if it did not cease charging fees on so-called “orphan policies” where clients had no financial adviser. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission was sharply tightening its focus on AMP last year with demands for historic paperwork after several years of investigating AMP and big banks over fees for no service. The formal demand from ASIC for all records relating to the orphan contracts document was...

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...

Small business blames 'real tightening' in credit on the banking royal commission Australian Financial Review Sep 23 2018 9:00 PM John Kehoe   Small business says it is facing a credit crunch and is blaming the royal commission into financial services for causing nervous banks to slow lending to the self-employed. The moderation in lending to small firms in recent months appears to be an unintended consequence of anecdotal evidence of questionable bank lending practices uncovered by Kenneth Hayne's inquiry. The royal commission's interim report is due to be released on Friday. Council of Small Business of Australia chief executive Peter Strong said: "We're hearing from our members credit from the banks is becoming much harder to get because of the royal commission." Fewer and smaller loans to small firms could slow economic growth. The Reserve Bank of Australia has said that access to finance for small businesses is important because...

S&P upgrades outlook on Australia on surplus prospects Australian Financial Review Sep 21 2018 4:01 PM Patrick Commins, John Kehoe   Global ratings agency S&P has upgraded the outlook on Australia's AAA credit rating to "stable" and says it expects the combined federal and state budgets will return to surplus by the "early 2020s" thanks to a strong job market and high commodity prices. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has already signalled the federal budget may return to balance before the 2019-20 forecast. Final accounts for last financial year are due to be released as soon as next week, though a narrowing deficit is still expected for 2017-18. Separately, Mr Frydenberg said on Friday that S&P had provided a "strong endorsement" of the government's finances and that Australia was one of only 10 countries to have a AAA rating from all three agencies. However, the Treasurer declined to commit to offset with new...

Banking royal commission: Insurers could face criminal charges Australian Financial Review Sep 21 2018 6:59 PM James Frost   The royal commission has heard a host of insurers have systematically broken laws, many of them carrying criminal penalties, in an explosive final day of hearings on the insurance industry. The open findings were delivered to the Hayne royal commission on Friday afternoon and were made even more embarrassing when Financial Services Council chief executive Sally Loane was unable to answer general questions about the industry and developments in relevant markets. In response to a question about the code of conduct Ms Loane said she didn't know. "As I said, I'm CEO. I have a lot of people on my staff." Counsel assisting the commission Rowena Orr, QC, presented the damaging findings, saying it was open to commissioner Kenneth Hayne to find evidence of insurance companies acting unconscionably, making false and misleading...

'Stop being bastards': how the royal commission could reform banks Sydney Morning Herald 22 September 2018 12:00am Jessica Irvine   Graeme Samuel is in no mood for beating around the bush. Australia’s former competition tsar, now a professorial fellow at Monash Business School, recalls a meeting with bank executives, in which they quizzed him on how to stop the relentless public mantra of “banks are bastards”. “The first thing I said was: ‘stop being bastards’,” Samuel told Fairfax Media this week, reflecting on six sensational rounds of public hearings of the royal commission into misconduct in the financial services sector which, he says, revealed “horrific” case studies and examples of “crass stupidity” by executives. “Some of us who have been in public service and dealing with these companies look at it and say what is going on?” Earlier this year, Samuel was part of a high level trio – including the...

Graeme Samuel ‘bewildered’ by finance companies’ poor behaviour The Australian 12:00am September 22, 2018 Michael Roddan   Former competition tsar Graeme Samuel has hit out at the “completely unacceptable” behaviour of some of Australia’s biggest ­financial institutions through the man­ipulation of supposedly independent reports concocted by major consulting firms and fed to financial regulators. While crimes and misdemeanours committed by the big four banks gave cause to establish the banking and financial services royal commission, the behaviour of the big four accounting firms — KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC — and a host of second-tier auditing, contracting and consulting firms is squarely in the sights of financial watchdogs. Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission this week revealed further sorry examples of how companies pressure consultancies to fudge information in reports destined for regulators, this time with the revelation that EY buckled to the demands of insurance giant Allianz and reproduced a...

I hope you managed to purchase a copy of this very important magazine article. A five page feature on MORTGAGE FRAUD.  Bank Rolled AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE Greg Bearup & Anthony Klan Saturday 30/6/2018 The most FAQ:  HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW and WHY HAYNE WAS PREVENTED FROM CALLING DENISE BRAILEY TO THE STAND?  Given my extensive background into the Mortgage Fraud complaints during the past 18 years people ask why I have not been called to the Royal Commission which started with my pleading to Tony Abbott to call a RC in 2013.  Instead we were given a "Hockey Roots and Branch Fiasco" run by the head of the CARTEL David Murray who ha zero integrity in taking that position. In March 2016, I wrote 8 page letter on why consumers are desperate for a Royal Commission. Unlike Abbott, Shorten responded immediately.  His 2IC called me on a Sunday night (2nd April) and...

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...