"They just point to where I should sign. Sometimes he goes up the page, sometimes he goes down," Flanagan said via videolink because she was too sick to travel to Melbourne for the hearing.When the business failed, Westpac ordered Flanagan to sell her house to recoup its loan. Flanagan eventually kept her house with the help of a public lawyer.Westpac's head of commercial banking, Alastair Welsh, told the inquiry the bank followed its formal processes with Flanagan but agreed the bank manager who approved her arrangement should have taken special care considering her disabilities. The Australian government has also pledged to boost the powers of the corporate watchdog, double maximum prison terms and massively increase financial penalties for corporate crime.Shares in the big four banks and AMP have lost a combined A$37 billion ($28 billion) in market value since the hearings began in February. AMP has been the biggest loser by percentage, tumbling 24 percent, followed by CBA which has fallen 12 percent.

Source: The Star May 21, 2018 08:26 UTC