Chair’s message

I am pleased to present this industry data report, which looks at the operations of subscriber banks and provides insights into their compliance with the Code in a range of important areas.

Crucially, the information and insights offered in this report are not readily available through other independent bodies.

At the Banking Code Compliance Committee, banks provide us with information as part of their reporting and this places us in a unique position to offer valuable analysis of their operations and compliance.

From this position, we have a responsibility to report the findings of our analyses and present them to the industry’s many interested stakeholders. Keeping stakeholders informed is an important part of our purpose.

With our overarching purpose being to monitor and drive best practice compliance with the Code, examining the practices of banks and identifying problems in the industry are fundamental. And this report contributes to our purpose.

It provides valuable insight into the work of banks during a time of great social and economic challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic featured prominently, and its economic ramifications were felt across society. This, inevitably, put the spotlight on banks and the actions they took to assist consumers through the challenging and unprecedented period.

While there are elements of good practice on display, the report highlights plenty of room for improvement. We expect that banks will take the learnings that this report provides and improve their processes and practices to comply with obligations and, ultimately, ensure fair outcomes for consumers.

As a Committee, we hope the report offers readers a view of banks’ operations not seen before and offers banks an opportunity to learn and improve processes which will lead to better practices.

Ian Govey AM
Chair of the Banking Code Compliance Committee