Does Australia really need a royal commission into banking?
It’s been a little more than a week since the Labor Party announced it would hold a royal commission into the banking sector if elected. There’s been a lot of talk about whether industry regulator – the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC could do the same job.
A Senate report in 2014 called for a commission, after Commonwealth Bank lost hundreds of millions of dollars putting money in high-risk investments without their clients’ permission. ANZ and Westpac have also faced court over allegations of interest-rate rigging.
The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates the royal commission would cost more than $50 million over two years, but a Fairfax poll last week of more than 1400 people shows that 65% of voters would back a royal commission.
Joining me now to explain the difference between what ASIC and a royal commission does is Dr Anna Olijnyk, Lecturer at the Law School at the University of Adelaide.
What does the Australian Securities and Investment Commission do?
Producer: Nicole Ng
