A special government-appointed inquiry excoriated Australia’s financial sector for misconduct on Monday, referring two dozen cases to regulators for possible legal action but leaving the structure of the country’s powerful banks in place. Regulators will be subjected to a new oversight body and the financial industry’s pay will be overhauled to remove conflicts of interest, according to the recommendations of the so-called Royal Commission. The conservative government, which was initially opposed to the setting up of the inquiry, promised it would act on all the 76 recommendations. Authorities were urged to consider laying charges for misconduct like charging fees for services not rendered, including instances at major lenders Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. When misconduct was revealed, it either went unpunished or the consequences did not reflect the seriousness of what had been done, the inquiry found.

Source: The Irish Times February 04, 2019 11:03 UTC