The final report of the independent review of the BCCC was released on 13 December 2021. The review was informed by extensive consultation with a range of stakeholders including banks, consumer groups, the Australian Banking Association (ABA), Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Stakeholders were also given the opportunity to make submissions to the review.
The BCCC thanks Mr Khoury and his team for the comprehensiveness of the report and the consultative approach adopted.
The BCCC is pleased that the review highlights the critical role it plays in promoting compliance with the Code as well as providing assurance to the Australian community on the level of compliance by banks with promises made to customers in the Code.
The 19 recommendations, centre around governance, engagement, information sharing and strengthening of the BCCC’s capabilities and resources, to further improve its performance.
While the BCCC broadly supports the recommendations, many fall within the responsibility of the ABA and may also relate to recommendations contained in the separately concluded Code review. The BCCC looks forward to working closely with the ABA on these matters.
Work is underway on the recommendations within the remit of the BCCC, including focused efforts to improve the timeliness of reports and avoiding duplication with ASIC and AFCA. In the coming financial year, the Committee will be investing to improve its data collection and analytics capabilities and it looks forward to working closely with subscribers on this.
The Committee is also focused on reinvigorating the Small Business and Agribusiness Panel. This is still a relatively new initiative and more time is needed to embed the model to ensure the true value of the Panel approach is realised.
More details on the BCCC’s response to those recommendations within its responsibility will be published in due course.
Any stakeholders wishing to provide feedback on any of the recommendations of the review should email [email protected].
Background
The BCCC is an independent compliance monitoring body established under clause 207 of the Banking Code of Practice (the Code). The Committee is comprised of an independent chairperson, a banking representative and a consumer representative.
The BCCC’s purpose is to monitor and drive best practice Code compliance by:
- examining banks’ practices
- identifying current and emerging industry wide problems
- recommending improvements to bank practices, and
- consulting with and keeping stakeholders and the public informed.
The review of the BCCC was undertaken in accordance with clause 14.1 of its Charter, which requires a periodic review of its activities, coinciding with the review of the Code by the Australian Banking Association (ABA).
The BCCC appointed Mr Phil Khoury, of cameron. ralph. khoury, to conduct the review of the BCCC. The Terms of Reference, required the review to consider the BCCC’s powers and role, its performance, appropriateness of its external relationships, implementation of the 2016 reviews’ findings and whether it has acted fairly, independently and appropriately.