Guarantees Follow-up Inquiry

Inquiry Type:     Follow-up

Topic:      Compliance with guarantee obligations in the 2019 Banking Code of Practice

Scope:      All Code-subscribing banks

Commenced:     July 2022

Complete:      August 2023

Original inquiry

In 2019 we commenced an inquiry into banks’ compliance with obligations for guarantees in the 2013 Code of Banking Practice. In this inquiry, we examined the processes and practices of 13 banks.

The resulting 2021 Guarantees Report was published in August 2021, in which we made 23 recommendations.

Follow-Up inquiry

In 2022, we commenced a follow-up inquiry to see the improvements that banks had made since we published the 2021 Guarantees Report.

We engaged all banks that subscribe to the Code to examine their responses to the recommendations in the 2021 Guarantees Report.

We also sought feedback from the public and from key stakeholders to understand customer experiences with the guarantor process.

We published the 2023 Guarantees Follow-Up Report in August 2023.

Media and Articles

• Consumer experiences sought for a new inquiry into guarantees 
• Banking Code Compliance Committee critical of banks’ guarantees practices
• Significant improvements on guarantees, but areas still need work