Australia’s landmark banking inquiry: Tighter regulations, crackdown on ‘overinflated’ bankers’ salaries to come

Regulatory changes, tougher punishments and a crackdown on massive pay packets of bankers are expected after the release of a report from an inquiry into abuses by the financial services industry

Major lenders – including the country’s “big four” banks – have been under scrutiny in recent years, over allegations of dodgy financial advice, life insurance and mortgage fraud

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A man banks at a Commonwealth Bank ATM in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:55pm, 3 Feb 2019Updated: 6:55pm, 3 Feb 2019

A major shake-up of Australia’s massively profitable banking sector is on the cards as a landmark inquiry into abuses in the financial services industry releases its final report on Monday.

Sweeping legislative and regulatory changes, a crackdown on the massive pay packets of bankers, and even criminal charges against senior executives could be among the recommendations issued by the royal commission.

Major lenders – including the country’s “big four” banks, which are among the developed world’s most wealthy – have been under scrutiny in recent years, over allegations of dodgy financial advice, life insurance and mortgage fraud.

Some unscrupulous brokers were found charging customers long after they were dead.

Major lenders, including Australia’s “big four” banks – the NAB, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac – have been under scrutiny in recent years. Photo: AFP

The comprehensive inquiry was established in 2017 to quell public anger over their misbehaviour. A preliminary report released in September last year criticised the banks’ culture of greed.